[Separate No. i6i] 

The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 
By J. H. A. Lacher 



'[From the Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin for 
1914, pages 1 18-167] 



Madison 

Published for the Society 

1915 



[Separate No. i6i] 

The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 
Bv I. H. A. Lacher 



[From the Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin for 
19 14, pages I 18-167] 



Madison 

Published for the Society 

1915 



Wisconsin Historical Society 



The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 



By J. H. A. Lacher 

Diligent research, has brought to light the activities of the 
missionaries, voyageurs, and fur traders who frequented this 
territory during the French occupation and subsequently; the 
lead miner and the chief events and actors in the formative pe- 
riod of our State have been portrayed; our part in the Civil 
War has been well covered; while numerous reminiscences have 
given realistic glimpses of everyday life in the long ago ; never- 
theless, there are important features of the early histor^^ of Wis- 
consin that have received but scant attention. Comparatively 
little has been written about the taverns and stage lines of early 
Wisconsin, yet a thorough understanding of that period is 
hardly possible without some knowledge of these establishments, 
for they affected the lives of the people deeply and from many 
angles. 

As already intimated, the early taverns exercised a profound 
influence upon the lives of the settlers, and it is the purpose of 
this paper to tell their story and that of their landlords, to- 
gether with a cursory account of the stage lines, in the hope that 
they may receive deserved recognition as important factors in 
the settlement and development of our State. For obvious 
reasons it is neither possible nor desirable to enumerate all the 
taverns that once studded the landscape of Wisconsin, or to men- 
tion the yet more numerous landlords who at different times 
presided over them; nor is it necessary to devote much space 
to the hosts and hostelries of the larger places, because these have 
generally received due notice in the various county histories. 
In order to give some idea of their frequency along main roads, 

[118] 

0. OF i). 
JUL 30 !915 



» The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 

\ 

*"' the writer will give the name and location of approximately all 
the taverns on a few such thoroughfares. Moreover, since his 
^ inquiries have influenced a number of local historians to write 
^ about the old taverns of their I'espective neighborhoods, he finds 
^ it unnecessary to cover the same ground. The author has taken 
'^ great pains to resurrect data on the subject by correspondence 
^ and interviews with hundreds of old settlers ; by reading scores 
of local histories, pamphlets, and manuscripts; and by consult- 
ing official records and searching carefully through many files 
of old newspapers at the State Historical Library, he has sought 
to verify and correct the information thus obtained. Yet he 
does not flatter himself that his paper will be free from error. 
Some abler pen should have Avritten exhaustively on this theme 
years ago, when accurate data would have been more readily 
accessible; but even then it might have been subject to mis- 
takes.^ 

Accustomed to modern life, with its rapid transit, telegraph, 
telephone, electric light, automobiles, phonographs, moving and 
talking pictures, metropolitan press, rural free delivery, parcel 
post, machine-made products, and centralization, we can hardly 
realize the conditions that prevailed in Wisconsin before the 
coming of the railroad. The absence of all these conveniences, 
together with the ever increasing influx of settlers and the con- 
stant recession of the frontier, meant a different adjustment of 
life. It meant numerous ambitious hamlets and villages, many 
now extinct, where craftsmen made and sold their wares; it 
meant long lines of teams taking the products of farm, forest, 
and mine to the lake ports, or merchandise into the interior; it 
meant droves of live stock moving at a slower pace and the 
eventful arrival of the stage at a lively canter; it meant tardy 
news, local amusements, greater self-dependence, and a simpler 
life; it meant the prominence of the tavern and the wide 
influence of the landlord. Whether village tavern, or wayside 
inn, it was the social center of the neighborhood. 



' Alexander Pratt, a Waukesha editor, writing four years after the 
event, declares that the State's first railroad was formally opened to 
traffic in that village in March, 1852. See Wisconsin Historical Col- 
lections. I, 139. The correct date, however, was February 25, 1851. A 
four column account of the celebration attending the opening is con- 
tained in the Waukesha Democrat of Mar. 4, 1851. 

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Wisconsin Historical Society 

The tavern of early Wisconsin discharged many functions. 
It furnished not only food, drink, and shelter, but was also the 
place for all indoor amusements, such as dances, concerts, lec- 
tures, puppet shows and wax figure exhibitions, for which pur- 
poses a suitable hall was usually provided. This hall was also 
the meeting place of secret societies, like the Masons, Odd Fel- 
lows, and the Oriental Evauic Order of 1001, the last named a 
burlesque secret organization then quite popular. Here, too, 
were held caucuses, town meetings, conventions, and elections. 
The dearth of churches aiid public buildings in the communities 
enhanced still more the importance of the tavern, for in their 
absence the hall was used for religious services or sessions of the 
court. The tavern was the place for assemblages of all kinds, 
even county fairs; while at Fourth of July celebrations, then 
the event of the year, the landlord was generally the caterer. A 
perusal of Wisconsin papers published before the days of the 
railroad will disclose an almost entire absence of what is now 
known as county news. Since curiosity about the affairs of 
others is an inherent human trait, our early precursors in the 
State must have enjoyed a quicker medium for disseminating 
the news of the neighborhood than the weekly paper. There 
was indeed such a medium, namely, the taverns that abounded 
in the villages or were located at frequent intervals along the 
well traveled highways.^ 

In the beginning the tavern was usually a story and a half 
log house, with a barn of like material, but with the advent of 
the sawmill larger and higher structures of frame were erected. 
A typical frame tavern of this period was the Exchange of 
Mulrsvonago, built by Henry Camp in 1842, and described in a 
paper read before the Territorial Badgers of that town by his 
son, Dan L. Camp.^ The original log tavern, where he was 



-■ American landlords had early gained a reputation as news gatherers. 
Doctor Schoepf, the scholarly German traveler, who toured the United 
States in 1783-84, observes: "There are no people in the world of more 
curiosity than the innkeepers throughout the greater part of America." 
J. D. Schoepf, Travels in the Confederation (Philadelphia, 1911), 22. 

'The paper, now in the writer's possession, was published in the 
Waukesha Freeman of unknown date. 

[120] 



The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 

born in 1840, was connected with the new building and used as 
a barroom. Describing this room, he says: 

Tallow 'dips' in tin reflectors hung on the wall near the bar, but 
usually no other light but that from the fireplace was needed. On one 
side of the fireplace was piled half a cord of dry maple, and on the 
other was the sink where the guest of high or low degree performed 
his ablutions with plenty of hard water and a cake of yellow laundry 
soap. * * * If we ran out of bar soap there was plenty of soft. 
Over the wooden sink there was a seven by ten inch mirror, flanked by 
u comb and a brush suspended by chains. 

The new tavern was heated by four fireplaces, two on each floor, 
placed at each end of the building. There was a small cook stove in 
the kitchen. How my good mother ever accomplished the cooking for 
all the hearty eaters that came to our tavern, besides getting supper for 
forty or more couples that attended the dancing parties, is a mystery to 
me. 

The upper floor was made into one large room except for a long tier 
of bedrooms, six by seven, on one side of the building, which were re- 
served for guests of high degree and maiden ladies. The large hall, 
which my father called the 'steerage,' was lined on one side and down 
the center with beds, like a hospital ward. When a ball was slated, 
all these beds had to be removed and placed temporarily on the large 
veranda at the front of the building. The festivities concluded, my 
father, who had been a seafaring man, sent everybody aloft to put the 
beds back in shipshape order, whereupon they 'spliced the main brace' 
in the aforesaid barroom. 

The 'steerage', when thus transformed into a ballroom, and trimmed 
with cedar boughs, with six candles on each side backed by bright tin 
reflectors tacked against the wall, together with the light from the 
fireplaces, presented a most cheerful appearance, and became a favorite 
resort for dancing parties. 

Until 1845 there were few taverns constructed of brick, stone, 
or grout. In the later forties and early fifties, during their 
golden period, many large, substantial taverns were built in 
Wisconsin, with commodious, attractive dance halls. These 
halls, then called ballrooms, while generally on the top floor of 
the main building, were sometimes located in a wing. During 
this period the more pretentious ballrooms were provided with 
"spring" floors, which were laid independently of the walls and 
yielded under the feet of the dancers like thin ice. Persons unac- 
customed to them, or somewhat inebriated, would be liable to 
fall, to the amusement of the terpsichorean adepts present. 
Dancing was the most popular pastime, yet, naturally, the 

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Wisconsin Historical Society 

dances were not the same as those now in vogue. Square dances, 
such as quadrilles, and contra -dances, like money musk and the 
Virginia reel, were the favorites; but, despite the opposition of 
the strait-laced, round dances were introduced from the East 
and by the Germans, who came in such numbers after 1848. 
The most popular among these were the polka, mazurka, schot- 
tische, and waltz. The waltz, especially, was denounced by pul- 
pit and press as immoral. 

During the fore part of the grand dances the fair participants 
wore dark prints, but at midnight they repaired to the dress- 
ing room, provided by better taverns, and donned their party 
clothes, light colored airy dresses of tarlatan or muslin, or darker 
ones of delaine or debeige. The elite wore pumps of bronze or 
black kid, the others dancing in their ordinary shoes or moroc- 
co, prunella, or wax calf. Some of the men had pumps, but 
more wore boots, and occasionally one danced in his stocking 
feet. 

The music, furnished originally by a fiddler, who was some- 
times assisted by a manipulator of a bass viol, improved as the 
larger towns came to boast of excellent cotillion bands ; these 
were in good demand for the important functions of the popular 
taverns, while local talent was engaged for ordinary events. 
These "string" bands consisted generally of four instiounents, 
but occasionally of a larger number.* Among the famous co- 
tillion bands of the time were those of Hess of Milwaukee and 
Severance of Whitewater. Sometimes the landlord himself was 
a musician or dancing master, or both, as in the case of Jerome 
B. Topliff of Elm Grove. 

New Years, Washington's Birthday, the Fourth of July, and 
Thanksgiving were the occasions for grand balls, when enter- 
prising landlords made extraordinary efforts to attract a large 
attendance. A shrewd selection of popular floor managers from 
the various tributary communities constituted an important 
part of these carefully planned preparations. These functions 
were sufficiently numerous to satisfy the most ardent dancer. 



' In the Watertown Chronicle for December, 1S44, John W. Windue 
advertises that his "Cotillon Band is composed of first rate musicians 
in good practice and that he can furnish on short notice any number 
and description of instruments." 

[122] 



/. 




^ iNDEPfNOEiicf nm. 



Your Comp.inv wiih Lalv in rospectfollv solicited at a F.-irtr, 
to ic given OB 

Mt)\It\V, H 1.1 -:\!». IM.l'i, \t "1111 

MUKWANAGO HOUSE, OF R. W GIBSON. 



»i »N »«;i:k- 



.lOHN SCItNFt! 



MUSIC, SEVEftE-^CE'S HA>n, TICKETS, *■.'.-.<) 



(t 



un 



.>>::. V 



-hi 



•ivrxjKA^^^!=>^isrA.C3-o hoxjse. 



On Wednesday Even'g, April 23rd, 1856. 



LADV IS - 



WAfJKKS. 



Inhpcukntc ^will, 



(ilkukv. 






' ^10 e- 



ON F? ^AY. JULY 4th, 1856. 



' \c\A\le\QlO 



V K I ^ !■ I. I I y I i 1. V 



Dance Invitation Cards 



The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 

Some of the parties announced in the long ago seem strange 
enough to us of the present day. During the presidential cam- 
paign of 1856 a Fremont ball was held at Alexander's tavern 
at Bad Axe, Wisconsin. After the sap had run in the sugar 
bush and liad been converted into its several saccharine pro- 
ducts, a sugar party was sure to be held in the nearby tavern. 
The main attraction at a sugar party, aside from dancing, was 
a supper at which maple syrup and hot biscuits were the piece 
de resistance; when the weather was opportune, boiling maple 
syrup was poured upon the snow, forming wax, that most de- 
licious of sweets. 

The prevailing price of admission to these parties in 1855-56, 
supper included, was $2.50 per couple. Owing to the Crimean 
War and better marketing facilities, due to the recently built 
plank roads and the rapid extension of railways, farm products 
brought at this time far higher prices than formerly ; hence 
these seemingly expensive functions were in part evidences of 
prosperity.^ For the rest the price indicates the characteristic 
American tendency to extravagance, with the landlords alert to 
take advantage of it, even as at present. A few years before, 
the price of admission to these balls was a great deal less." 
The taverns were the scene of other entertainments than those 
already mentioned. Under their hospitable roof amateur 
comedians staged daily impromptu performances befoi'e appre- 
ciative, uncritical audiences. 



■'The Milwaukee Free Democrat, Feb. 19, 1S55, quotes these prices: 
Flour $6 to $7.75; winter wheat $1.32 to $1.40; spring wheat $1.20 to 
$1.28; barley 90 cents to $1.00; corn 45 cents to 50 cents; oats 34 cents 
to 36 cents; mess pork $11; and eggs 22 cents. 

"The Watertown Chronicle of Mar. 20 1850, has this advertisement: 

"Ball at the Buena Vista House. 
The public is respectfully invited to a ball at the Buena Vista 
House, Monday night, the 31st day of April ne.xt. Tickets 
50 cents for gentlemen, ladies free. 

Wm. Wiggenhorn." 

It should be noted, however, that this was a German house. For many 
years the German immigrants to Wisconsin held aloof, socially, from 
the American element of the population. It is quite possible, there- 
fore, that the price given in this case is lower than the usual price. 

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Wisconsin Historical Society 

Wisconsin was then a country' of j^oung men. The outdoor 
life, the convivialitj'- and comradery of the road, filled them to 
overflowing with animal spirits, and this exuberance of energy 
usually manifested itself in pranks, horseplay, and practical 
jokes. A joke at the expense of the landlord was one most en- 
joyed, perhaps because it meant a treat for the crowd. J. B. 
( able, an early tavern-keeper of Waukesha County, had such a 
dislike for the Irish that he would not entertain them. One 
evening a peddler, who occasionally stopped with him, entered 
disguised and announced in a well assumed brogue that he was 
going to stop over night, proceeding at once to put up his team. 
When, after considerable wrangling, the irate landlord discov- 
ered that he had been hoaxed, he was obliged to do the usual 
honors. At another time, when he had gone down cellar to re- 
fill his flagons, the hilarious crowd locked the trapdoor and de- 
parted with the key. However, these examples of playful- 
ness are mild compared with some that could be given. 

Games of chance and for amusement were played generally; 
yet cards were taboo even at some wet taverns. Ingenuity, 
however, overcame such a slight obstacle to mild gambling. 
There was, for instance, crack loo, which was played by tossing 
up coins, the one whose coin alighted nearest a designated crack 
being the winner. At the Otis House, Hartland, cards and 
dice were prohibited, but the patrons gambled nevertheless. 
Forming a circle in the barroom, each in his turn whirled an 
empty demijohn ; the one at whom the neck pointed after it had 
come to rest being obliged to treat. Yet even here there "was some 
regard for the proprieties, for whoever indulged beyond his 
capacity was made to dig a stump out of the nearby swamp be- 
fore breakfast the next morning. 

Apart from financial or culinary ability, the table of the tav- 
erns varied with the times and locality. In 1846, when the 
landlords of southern Wisconsin advertised the "delicacies of 
the season", the first tavern at Black River Falls served bread 
and fried salt pork for breakfast and supper, with boiled pork, 
bread, and bean soup for dinner as a change.^ Landlords, par- 
ticularly during the heyday of the tavern, took great pride in 



'Mrs. Bella French, Histori/ of Black River F'alls (La Crosse, 1875). 

[124 1 



The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 

their table, and on special occasions tried to surpass one another 
in providing gustatory pleasures for their guests. Thus Sam 
Barstow, a noted landlord of Waukesha in the early forties, 
favored his guests at a Fourth of July celebration by serving 
them in a large, temporary bower with such rare and delectable 
dishes of that period as spring lamb and green peas. Old news- 
papers reveal that the landlords delighted in lauding in print 
the quality of their table. In 1847 the American House of Wa- 
tertown boasted of its "wild game"; the Exchange, of the same 
place, claimed among its "eatables and drinkables, everything 
which the western fields, forests, waters, and markets afford": 
while the Three Mile House of Emmet, Dodge County, modestly 
declared its "creature comforts equal to any west of the lakes".* 
Possibly the recollection of meals partaken at taverns in the 
springtime of life, when hard work and exuberant health gave 
them keen appetites may betray old settlers into exaggeration; 
but all accounts agree that there were then many good cooks 
among the women of Wisconsin. While the landlord may have 
been a good manager and provider, and though his geniality 
may have captivated all, the quality of his table depended up- 
on his cook, who was generally his wife, with his daughters as 
assistants. Tradition has it that the reputation for good cheer 
enjoyed in many taverns was due to wives who were excellent 
ministers of the interior. They and their daughters were not 
ashamed to do housework. These verses^ advertising Samuel 
Mallory's tavern at Elkhorn in 1845 bear witness to this: 

His table is furnished with the substantials of life, 
Cooked and prepared by his daughters and wife, 
Myself will attend you and give you the food 
With desserts and pastry, which shall be all good. 

iVeedless to say. many items of diet of tlie present generation 
were not included in the menus of old. for landlords had not 
then refrigerator car service to supply their table with unseason- 
able delicacies ; neither were there any canned goods, and rarely 
ice cream. Game and fish were, however, plentiful, and these 



" Advertisements in Watertown Chronicle, June 23, June 30, and 
Aug. 4, 1847. 

"From a twenty eight line advertisement in the Western Star, Elk' 
horn, Aug. 28, 1845. 

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Wisconsin Historical Society 

often replenished the scanty larder of the frontier tavern.^" 
Turkey, both wild and tame, Avas the chief attraction at parties, 
but after the coming of the railway oyster suppers were the 
feature. Holiday suppers often had a roast pig set at each end 
of the long table. Then there were hot mashed potatoes, pies, 
cakes, doughnuts, cookies, pickles, preserves, coffee, tea, and 
cheese. The hot supper, served at six, w^as folloAved by the 
dance. At midnight plates were passed to the guests seated 
around the ballroom and a lap lunch of pie, cake, doughnuts, 
coffee, and sometimes tea, was served. When the program did 
not include an early hot supper, cold meat was usjially served. 

Bills of fare served daily at these taverns did not offer the 
variety set before the fastidious traveler of the present, but 
they liad the home cooking flavor, now so often lacking, and 
the rates were much lower. Although the prevailing rate was 
one dollar per day, the charges were by no means unifonn. 
Fierce competition often resulted in price-cutting, when a man 
Avas kept for supper, lodging, and breakfast, including feed and 
stabling for his team, for as low as four shillings, or fifty cents, 
this price sometimes including a drink. Those occupying the 
"school section", a large loft, or an outlying apartment, ac- 
commodating quite a numbei', usually had a lower rate. A 
house was not considered full until every bed held as many as 
could crowd into it ' ' spoon fashion ' '. When all beds were occu- 
pied to their capacity, some landlords gave teamsters who bunked 
on the floor an allowance of free whisky. ]\Irs. AV. F. Whitney 
of Waukesha relates that on one occasion in the late forties 
fourteen ladies slept two in a bed in one large upper chamber 
of the Hawks House, Del afield, while the men of the party 
found accommodations of some sort on the ground floor. 

Only occasional!}' do old advertisements of taverns mention 
their rates. The proprietor of the Union House of Richland 
City, J. AV. CoffinbeiTy, advertised in 1856: "Board by the day, 
$1.00, single meals .371/2 cents, lodging, .25, board by the week, 
.$3.00. Horse and hay overnight .25, horse, grain and hay over- 
night, .371/0, including care, .50''. His competitor, W. J. Frame, 



"Mrs. Cawley, who came to Clark County iu 1851, and served as cook 
In a boarding house, says that she cooked twenty-one deer that winter. 
Interview publislicd in tlie Neillsville Repiiblican Press, Dec. 15, 1910. 

[126 1 



The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 

of the City Hotel quoted lower prices, but was more exacting 
otherwise. lie permits "No gambling or card playing in house 
or barn, no profane or vulgar language, and sky -larking". His 
rates were as follows :" ) 

Meals each .25, lodging one night $.10 

Boarding by the week Avith lodging 2.50 

without lodging 2.00 

" day with lodging 75 

Horses to grain, hay and care 37 '2 

This, be it remembered, was a period of high prices. 

Taking care of the animals — horses, oxen, mules — was the duty 
of the hostler, so important a personage that one advertisement 
states that "Robert, the Old Hostler, is on hand and animals 
are safely entrusted to his care".^- Of the functionary re- 
ferred to Dan Camp writes: "The low rates included a tip to 
the hostler, consisting of a glass of 'red eye', which custom of 
the time kept that individual in a perpetually pickled condi- 
tion, not drunk, but simply stalling around and trying to look 
sober." And yet some hostlers developed into excellent land- 
lords. 

According to all accounts much whisky Avas consumed during 
the period under consideration. It was generally believed at 
this time that Avhisky was a necessary and useful beverage, and 
that men doing hard w^ork required alcoholic stimulants in order 
to be efficient. During harvest laborers expected and were sup- 
plied with rations of strong drink, and a farmer refusing such 
allowance was an exception. The numerous teamsters and 
travelers, who frequented the roads at all hours and in all kinds 
of weather, were generally afflicted with this prevailing thirst, 
thereby increasing the patronage of the taverns and providing 
a great source of revenue to the landlords. The tavern bars 
were patronized even by the lead teamsters and impecunious 
drivers who usually camped en route and provided their own 
food. 

While there were a few temperance houses scattered over the 



" Advertisement in Richland County Observer, June 3, 1856. 
'-Advertisement of Three Mile House of Emmet in Watertown 
Cinoniclr, Aug. 4, 1847. 

[127 1 



I 

Wisconsin Historical Society 

State, the bar was a prominent feature of nearly all taverns. 
Advertisements generally mention the choice quality of the bev- 
erages kept in stock. The following unique announcement" of 
1852 was surely a sign of the times: 

Planters' House, Hales Corners, Greenfield, Milwaukee County, by 
"William Hale. "A little of the critter to be had if desired." 

Another landlord advertises that his low rates include free 
wliisky.i'* But wliisky was cheap before the Civil War and dis- 
tilleries were plentiful in southeastern Wisconsin. Mr. A. C. 
Vanderpool, a pioneer of Waukesha County, told the writer that 
once just before harvest he bought five gallons of whisky at a 
nearby distillery at 121/2 cents a gallon, "and," he declared, "it 
was better than the stuff sold now, because it did not give any- 
body the headache." The retail price of a drink of whisky 
was usually three cents. 

It goes without saying that the taverns were not promoters 
of temperance, although the w^atering of whisky was said to ob- 
tain. Yet, strange to relate, when the Order of Good Templars 
spread over the country in the fifties, a dance hall sometimes 
served as their lodge room. Overshadowed by the all-absorbing 
question of slavery, the temperance movement had little effect 
upon the drink evil compared with the railroads, which reduced 
the number of taverns by revolutionizing traffic, and the Civil 
War, w^hich imposed a heavy, deterring tax upon intoxicants. 
While the use of whisky was general, especially in the lumber 
regions, it was hardly as pronounced as tradition alleges. 
Neither was Wisconsin exceptionally intemperate. Of the 
drinking habits of the second generation of the nineteenth cen- 
tury one able contemporary observ'er has w^'itten : "The vice 
of intemperance was not, as now, restricted to a few exceptional 
cases, but wns fearfully prevalent. A glass of wnne could somc- 



" Advertisement in the Western Star. Elkhorn, June 10, 1852. 

" "Cottage Inn by Jesse M. Van Slycke, successor to W. Porter, 
Walker's Point, South Ward, Milwaukee, W. T. Teamsters and Farm- 
ers, especially, will find it a good home. His charges will be, Horses 
to hay overnight, .18, Sup]»or and Lodging, .25, Breakfast .18 and some 
fixens for nothing at all — i/oii know! His table. Lodgings, Stable and 
Bar, will not be surpassed on the Point, in the city." Advertisement 
in Milwaukee Sentinel, Oct. 8, 1845. 

[128] 



The Taverns and Stages oi Early Wisconsin 

times be seen on the desk of a senator while engaged in debate, 
and the free use of intoxicating drinks by senators was too com- 
mon to provoke remark. It was still more common in the 
House ; and the scenes of drunkenness and disorder in that body 
on the last night of the last session [March 3, 1851] beggared 
description."^'"' Amusements are a necessary relaxation. Ow- 
ing to the dearth of theaters and outdoor games during their 
day, perhaps our forefathers were much addicted to the flowing 
bowl. 

Although the sale of strong drink was usualh^ regarded by 
the landlord as essential to financial success, an abundant sup- 
ply of pure water was perhaps the greatest asset of a tavern. 
While teamsters were not partial to water as a drink for them- 
selves, they were particular to stop at taverns having a copious 
supply of this precious fluid to slake the thirst of their jaded 
animals. Landlords fortunate in the possession of inexhaustible 
wells or springs of good water, made mention of the fact in their 
advertisements. In some cases the very name of the house in- 
dicated the treasure. Cold Spring House was a favorite name for 
taverns situated near one of nature's fountains. When the sup- 
ply of water near the house was inadequate to meet the demand, 
it was sometimes replenished from a distance. The well-known 
Prairie ville House of Waukesha was supplied from a spring six 
blocks distant, the water being conveyed thence by gravity in 
basswood pipes. Capt. John Bell, who kept for years the popu- 
lar tavern on the Mukwonago Road in Milwaukee County, called 
the passing throng's attention to the superior quality of his well 
water, and invited all to help themselves freely, by this remark- 
able sign : 

Stop, gentlemen, as you pass by, 
My water tank is free, 
Its source is on the mountain high, 
Its course is to the sea. 

It was not unusual for landlords to be engaged in other ac- 
tivities, such as running a livery stable, a stage line, a ferry, a 
farm, or holding a public office ; quite a number conducted gen- 



"G. W. Julian, Political Recollections, I840 to 18T2 (Chicago, 1884), 
105, 106. 

9 [ 129 ] 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

eral stores in coimectiou with their taverns. As storekeepers 
they were generally benefactors of their respective neighbor- 
hoods, because in pioneer days and during the years of crop 
failure they furnished the necessaries of life t6 many a poor 
settler, carrying his account on the books until the day that he 
should be able to pay. Unfortunately for the merchant-land- 
lord pay day never came with some of these customers, and de- 
spite the profits made in the tavern, he was sometimes forced to 
the wall in consequence of delinquent debtors. Because they 
are supposed to do business at a profit, in periods of prosperity 
the public is prone to forget the valuable services rendered by 
the merchant in extending credit w^hen money is scarce. In- 
quiries among descendants of early landlords have occasionally 
elicited the comment that their ancestor was not well-to-do, but 
that he never refused food and shelter to a person without 
money. The late Henry B. Bidwell, a pioneer who came to 
Waukesha in 183G, told the writer that had not Solomon Juneau 
furnished the early settlers thereabout with food on long credit, 
they would all have perished. 

The foregoing brief description of the taverns of early Wis- 
consin will suf^ce to show what important institutions they were 
to the people of that period, and how variously and deepl}^ they 
affected their lives. It also indicates that the landlords were 
generally men of consequence in their communities, and that 
their genial hospitality and wide acquaintance gave them a van- 
tage for gaining public esteem and increasing their informa- 
tion, as well as making pecuniary profit. It is not surprising, 
therefore, that this occupation attracted men of character and 
ability, and that many of them attained prominence in their 
counties and the State, while a few acquired even a national 
reputation. Very many landlords held county offices, a large 
number served in the Legislature, two went to Congress and one, 
General J. M. Rusk, after being governor of the State for three 
terms, finished his distinguished public career as a member of 
the President's cabinet. It is to be noted that several clergymen 
were among the tavern-keepers of that period, but that their 
ventures were not signally successful. There were also some 
physicians and lawyers who engaged in this occupation. 

Although a new country is generally very democratic, people 

[ 130 ] 



The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 

of the period under consideration seemed to have set great store 
by political and military titles. A surprisingly large number 
of the early landlords bore military titles, that of captain pre- 
dominating; but there were also majors, colonels, and several 
generals among them. Comparatively few of these ante-bellum 
military titles were won in battle ; instead they were commonly 
earned by service in the militia, or as members of a governor's 
staff; and quite a number of captains graduated from the decks 
of sailing vessels. However, a number of landlords afterward 
served in the Civil War, and at least two became brigadiers by 
brevet. 

These strong men did much to shape the destinies of their com- 
munities. Their energy and enterprise caused the erection not 
only of the numerous taverns, used for such multifarious pur- 
poses; but they also promoted the establishment of industries, 
schools, and churches ; the building of roads, and the organiza- 
tion of new political divisions and the location of county seats. 
While the landlords were among the chief promoters of plank 
roads, some of them antagonized the building of railroads. Be- 
lieving that its construction through their town would ruin their 
business, tlie landlords of East Troy opposed the Milwaukee & 
Mississippi Railway; but when, too late, they realized that its 
diversion to another route was far more injurious to them, they 
favored the projected Milwaukee & Beloit Railroad which, un- 
fortunately, was never completed. Conversely, the persistence 
and resourcefulness of landlord Joseph Goodrich, of Milton, 
made possible the extension of the Milwaukee & Mississippi 
and changed its proposed course hy way of Johnstown to his 
town. • At a meeting of citizens and promoters, when the pro- 
ject seemed destined to failure for want of funds, Goodrich pro- 
posed that the farmers along the route raise the necessary 
money by mortgaging their farms and purchasing railroad stock 
with the funds thus obtained. Although Goodrich and hun- 
dreds of his fellow mortgagors lost heavily by the venture, be- 
cause of the subsequent bankruptcy of this and all other early 
Wisconsin railways, the advent of the railway brought about 
higher prices for farm products and general ]r -sperity. 

The early landlords were principally Americans of New Eng- 
land ancestry and, like the pioneers of Wisconsin, a large pro- 

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Wisconsin Historical Society 

portion of them liailed from New York State, although Vermont 
and Connecticut were also well represented. There were orig- 
inally few foreigners among them, but when the great tide of 
foreign immigration came surging into the State, German, Eng- 
lish, Irish, and Scotch landlords made their appearance in ever 
increasing numbers. 

Roads 

In view of the fact that the taverns were commonly situated 
on the principal thoroughfares, a brief mention of these seems 
necessary. The indifferent militarj^ roads, built mainly in 
1835, wore of minor importance in the development of the State. 
After the lands of southeastern Wisconsin had become subject 
to entry in 1836, the ensuing immigration caused the establish- 
ment of roads into the interior. Begun with congressional aid 
in 1838-39, these roads trended west from Southport (Keno- 
sha) ; west and northwest from Racine, and southwest and west 
from Milwaukee. They followed the lines of least resistance, 
avoiding woods, swamps, and rivers, wherever possible, and were 
extremely bad. Until after 1850 the favorite road from Mil- 
waukee to Fond du Lac was by way of Watertown and Fox Lake, 
the longest way being the best and most expeditious. 

The discomforts incident to travel by stage at this time were 
due chiefly to the poor condition and character of the roads. At 
certain seasons of the year they were frightfully bad, as the 
following item from the Watertown Chronicle of Nov. 1, 1848, 
shows: "The stage road for some weeks past should form a 
powerful appeal to farmers and traders in favor of the plank 
road from this place to Milwaukee. The going has never been 
worse. The road fi-om one end of the line to the other is lined 
with fragments of wagons, barrels of flour, boxes of goods, etc. 
The pi'ice of freight has more than doubled.'' 

In a few years these territorial roads were extended to the 
mining region of southwestern Wisconsin, with the result that 
in 1839 the lead teams began to luake their tedious journey 
across the State to Milwaukee. The drivers did not generally 
obtain food or shelter at the taverns, but camped and sometimes 
foraged the cornfields, en route. 

[ 132 ] 



I no 



MM mm. 



Loaves the G<'nrTa: Stago Olii< .■• X >. 13, Wisconsin street 
for Galena, viaPruirieville, Deliifield, Summit, Concord, Az- 
talan, Lake Mills, Cottage Grove, Madison, Dodgeville, Min- 
eral Point, am! Platteville to Galena. 

With a branch running from Watcnown, Beaver Dam, 
Fox Luke, Fond du Lac, to Green* Bay. 

Lcavrs ;' . ;.!;(> olTicc for Galena, via New Berlin, Muk- 
^■anaj:;(:i, !'. . ''"'■>', Troy, Johnstown, Janjsville, Monroe, 
'W'iota, ShuH;.buri;b. and Wiiitc Oak Springs to Galena. 

With a hrnnch running from Jancsville, via Union to Mad- 
ison, ii! ' ■ . .1 with the Galena line. 

Als ..naig from Janesville via Detroit, Roscoe, 

and Pv'K i.ijid to Dixon ; coimecting with the Chicago, and 
Galena Lines, at Rock ford and Dixon. 

Loaves Ilacinc every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, for 
■^;incsvilie j Also, leaves Soutliport fjr I\Iadison and Galena 
'iune days. 

Leaves the same office for Chicago, via Oak Creek, Ra- 
' ■'^f'. S .,;•' ;, rt, T,:*.;l.- Fort and Wheeling, to Chicago — con- 
'■''.. ■ ■ .' . >.v;tii iIm' S'. Louis and Michigan Stages. 

^■' ''^'" •, ;.n- >,tim- ..ihu.' tijr ."Siiflrjygan, via Me(]U')n, Hamhurg; 
^ iukville. Tort Washinaton, and Shebovgan Falls to Shcboy- 
'i^'-^- JOILX FRLNK &; Co. Proprietors. 

Milwaukee, Is 1-. 



^, 



Ti.MK-TAin.E 01" Wisconsin Stage Lixes 



The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 



Stage Lines 

As early as 1^-36 John Fiink and Martin 0. Walker operated 
a stage line in the lead region. Theodore Rodolf, who made a 
trip by stage from ]ilineral Point to ( 'hieago, hy way of Galena, 
in the fall of 1841, says in his reminiscences: "The means of 
traveling had by this time so mnch improved, that instead of the 
jolting, hard-seated, two horse wagon, we had a regular Frink 
& Walker daily stage line, with comfortable coaches." In win- 
ter sleighs were substituted and plenty of buffalo robes pro- 
vided. Rodolf made a trip to Milwaukee in January, 1842, go- 
ing hy w;sy of Madison, Janesville, Troy, and Prairieville (Wau- 
kesha) and reaching his destination the fifth day.^'' 

A study of the old stagecoach advertisements reveals the 
principal channels of travel, while the opening of new branch 
lines, the shifting of routes, and the improved, quicker service, 
indicate the rapid development of the State. 

In 1845 Frink, Walker & Company advertised a daily line 
of four horse coaches from Milwaukee to Galenfi, through in 
three days. One of the routes, stages leaving Milwaukee, Mon- 
day, AVednesday, and Friday, was by way of Troy, Janesville, 
Monroe, Wiota, Shnllsbnrg, Gratiot's Grove, and White Oak 
Springs, lodging at Janesville and ShuUsburg. The other 
leaving Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday was by way of 
Prairieville, Whitewater, Fort Atkinson, Madison, Blue Mounds, 
Dodgeville, ]\iineral Point, Platteviile, and Hazel Green, lodging 
at JMadison and Mineral Point. A branch ran from Whitewater 
to Milton, Janesville, Beloit, and Rockford. There was also a 
tri-v^^eekly line to New Berlin, Vernon, Mukwonago, and Troy; 
and one to Oak Creek, Racine, Southport, Half Day, Wheeling, 
and Chicago. These stages connected at Madison with a line to 
Fort Winnebago, and at Platteviile with one to Prairie du 
Chicn. Davis & ]Moore wei-e agents for this line at Milwau- 
kee.^' 



='■ Theodore Rodoll', "I'ioneering in the Vv'isconsin Lead Region," Wis. 
Eist. Colls., XV, 371-376. 

■' Advertisement in Janesville Gazette. May 20, 1845, Mineral Point 
Democrat. September, 1845, and Milwaukee Sentinel, 1845. 

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Wisconsin Historical Society 

In 1845 Hiitcliins, Howe & Company entered the field in 
southwestern Wisconsin, and by 1847-48 they had become strong 
competitors of the old firm; they advertised two tri-weekly lines 
from Milwaukee to Galena ; a dail}^ line to Janesville, by way of 
Prairieville, Whitewater, and Milton; a daily line ])y way of 
Prairieville to Watertown ; a tri-weekly line to Fond du Lac, by 
way of Watertown, Beaver Dam, and Fox Lake ; a semi-weekly 
line from Fond du Lac to Green Bay ; and one from Watertown 
south to Peru, Illinois, at the head of navigation on the Illinois 
River.^^ 

Although Rodolf speaks of "comfortable coaches", the state- 
ment should be taken in a comparative sense. Read the follow- 
ing description, by Aaron Rankin, a pioneer of Fort Atkinson, 
of the stages of this period of mud and corduroy roads. ^^ 

In those days the coaches were heavy, unwieldy things. In it were 
four seats, running crosswise, intended for eight persons, but more 
often twelve were squeezed inside. There were no springs under the 
coach; it was simply suspended by two leather straps, one on each side, 
extending from the front to the hind axle. When the front wheels 
dropped down into a hole, Its occupants pitched ahead, when the hind 
wheels dropped down into a hole, we all pitched back; and so we kept 
it up day in and day out. I do not believe there was a rod in the whole 
distance, but that some wheel was out of line, either in a hole, or 
climbing over a stone, stump, or root. If you were fortunate enough 
to get a corner seat you could brace and hold yourself somewhat, but 
the middle men had nothing to brace against, and I wonder that their 
backs were not all unhooked. Frequently we were stalled, and if the 
efforts of the horses, aided by the whip and profanity of the driver, 
could not pull us out, we were all ordered by that autocrat to get out. 
From his orders there was no appeal; his word was law— reckless was 
the man who ventured any advice or made any suggestion: at all times 
he was "half-cocked", held only by a hair trigger, and the slightest jar 
would touch him off. He was master of the English language with its 
variations and no discount on him. The trouble was generally with the 
hind end of the coach, the baggage being all lashed to the boot so that 
most of the weight came on the hind wheels. After we had all gotten 
into position and the driver had his arms straightened up for a pull. 



" Advertisement in Milwaukee Directory, 1847. An advertisement 
quoted in Wis. Hist. Colls., XIII, 323, shows that in 1844 Genung & Co. 
conducted a line of mail stages from Madison to Milwaukee by way of 
Lake Mills, Summit, and Prairieville. 

'• Recollections of Aaron Rankin. Ms. in possession of the writer. 

[134] 




Stagecoach ox Eau Claike-Black River Falls Line 



The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 

at the command of the autocrat, we and the horses were expected to 
pull and lift at the same time, and we generally succeeded in getting 
it out; but at times we had to get levers and pry it up. While not one 
of the drivers was a saint, they were not all bad men. 

On the road the stage driver is a very busy man — he is lookout, pilot, 
captain, conductor, brakeman, engineer, fireman, and, to use a slang 
phrase of today, "the whole thing". He must always read the road. 
He knows every stone, stump, root, and hill, but he is frequently de- 
ceived in the condition of the ground. Where yesterday he passed over 
safely, today his wheels break through and he finds no bottom. When 
he has a bad piece of road, and no way around it, he must go through, 
trusting to luck and his own skill for success. Approaching the station, 
or village, while yet a long way off, he blows his horn to notify the 
small boys and loungers of his coming and for them to assemble at the 
stage house to receive him. Drawing nearer, he jerks on his lines and 
presses his foot on the footboard, whip in hand. Every horse is ex- 
pected to pull his hardest until they arrive at the exact spot, and at 
the word of command to stop. He is the hero of every small boy and 
the champion of every lounger. But to see him in his glory is to see 
him when he starts out in the morning with a fresh team. He comes 
up in front of the stage house flying; the horses are nervous and un- 
easy while the passengers are getting aboard, but he is master of the 
situation; he is happy, for he knows that he is the observed of all by 
the small boys and loungers gathered to see him off. Baggage all 
strapped, passengers all in, everything ready, he is prepared to act — he 
is not yet ready — first he slaps his hat over on one side of his head, 
gives the ends of his lines a professional swing over on top of the 
coach, places his foot firmly on the footboard, pulls up his lines, whip 
in hand, rolls his quid of tobacco around to the right spot, and then 
issues the command to the horses. Each horse is expected to press into 
his collar at that instant like the touch of an electric button, and do 
his best to forge ahead. This speed is kept up until he is out of sight 
of the loungers and small boys, when he slackens the pace and the 
regular day's journey has begun. 

But the most glorious period of the stagecoach was at hand, 
when the plank road made going rapid and travel comfortable. 
Whether impelled by the unbearable losses and discomforts, or 
by American impulsiveness, plank roads were now being con- 
structed or projected all over the more densely settled portions 
of the State. In order to note the changes produced by this in- 
novation, a consideration of the Milwaukee and Watertown 
Plank Road will suffice. Begun at Milwaukee in June, 1849, 
the road was completed to Watertown, fifty-one miles, during 
the summer of 1851. On a trip over this road, October 12, 

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Wisconsin Historical Society 

1853, Genei«l King of the Milwaukee Sentinel tallied 363 teams 
going east, 283 earrj'ing about 14,000 bushels of wheat.-" 

Stages to and from ^Yatertown now made connections with 
Wisconsin's pioneer railroad at the Forest House, three miles 
northeast of Waukesha, thus shortening still more the time to 
and from Milwaukee. This was also the beginning of the stage 
lines shifting their terminals to make connections with the ad- 
vancing railroads. Here is the announcement for 1853:" 

For Northwestern Wisconsin. 

Stages Ys'ill leave the Forest House, IG miles west of Milwaukee, in 
connection with the Railroad immediately after the arrival of the 7 % 
o'clock A. M. and 3v, P. M. trains out of Milwaukee, passing through 
Pewaukee, Hartland, Oconomowoc, to Watertown, 51 miles on the Plank 
Road. 

Returning leave Watertown in time to connect at the Forest House 
■with the morning train, arriving in Milwaukee 12 1^ M. 

By this arrangement Watertown passengers can leave that place in 
the morning, and return in the evening, having three hours to do busi- 
ness in Milwaukee. 

Leave Watertown at l^/^ o'clock P. M., passing through Oak Grove, 
Beaver Dam, Fox Lake, Waupun, to Fond du Lac, the same evening. 

Extras furnished on the shortest notice and on reasonable terms, for 
all parts of the state. The above lines in connection with the Railroad 
at the Forest House, are run in good Four Horse Post Coaches. 

J. Frink & Co., 
General Stage Office, 17 Wisconsin St., Milwaukee. 

Although secmingl.y at the height of its prosperity and effi- 
ciency, the end was in sight for the stagecoach. It receded 
before the invasion of the iron horse, and though lingering for 
years in sequestered regions, it finally became extinct. 

Having described the taverns of earlj'^ Wisconsin with their 
varied functions and given a brief sketch of the stage lines, men- 
tion will now be made Ijy counties of some of the more prominent 
ho8t(_']ries and landlords. It is i-egrettable that comparatively lit- 
tle use can be made of the great mass of material colleetod, and 
that maiiy interesting incidents must be suppressed for lack of 
space. Some of the iranor stage lines of this period will re- 
ceive casual notice. 



"' Watertown Chronicle, October, 18.53. 
"^Jlid, April, 18G3. 

[136] 



The Taverns and Stages of Esrly Wisconsin 



Green Bay 

Green Bay has the distinction of being the site of the first 
licensed tavern in what is now the State of Wisconsin. Hon, 
John P. Arndt, a Pennsylvanian of German parentage, opened 
this house to the public in 1825 and was its first landlord. He 
conducted it for a number of years, the house being noted for 
its good cheer and the tootlisome German dishes prepared by his 
wife. An energetic, enterprising man of varied activities, 
Judge Arndt left his impress upon the Fox River Valley, a fit 
prototype of the numerous landlords who were so influential in 
the development of our State. He was a member of the Terri- 
torial Council during the years 1836-38.^^ 

So much has been written about the famous hotels of Green 
Bay, that a mere mention of them must suffice. Daniel Whit- 
ney built the Washington House on the site of the Beaumont 
about 1829. It served the public for yeai-s. In 1853 it was run 
by I. Parsons. The Astor House, named after its millionaire 
owner, John Jacob Astor, was opened in 1835. It was a large, 
square, three-stoiy building, with green blinds and a cupola; 
with its mahogany furniture, elegant carpets, and silver serv- 
ice, it was not a tavern, but the first hotel in Wisconsin. Fa- 
mous for years for its fine parties and political gatherings, it 
went up in flames in 1858. The United States Hotel, the 
"stage house" of the fifties, stood on the site of the city hall. 
It was a popular tavern when under the management of G. P. 
Farnsworth in 1853-55. 



The Lead Region 

The lead region could boast of a number of noted taverns and 
landlords. One of the latter was that "staunch, sound man", 
Col. Ebenezer Brigham of Blue J\Iounds, who settled in Wiscon- 
sin in 1828. One of the earliest traders and tavern-keepers, he 
was well liked and a prominent figure in territorial days. He 
served in the territorial council nine terms; he was appointed 



For a sketch of Judge Arudfs career, see Wis. Hist. Colls., XX, 381. 

[ 137 ] 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

postmaster by Jackson and held this office until his changed po- 
litical views caused his removal in 1857.-^ 

In 1836, when Milwaukee had a population of 206, Mineral 
Point, the metropolis of the new Territory, claimed 2,000. Min- 
ing camp and land office, it was full of miners, teamsters, specu- 
lators, gamblers, and strangers, a rough, ''wide open" town; 
but Col. Abner Nichols, the redoubtable, yet popular landlord, 
had his motley patrons well in hand. He, too, came in 1828 and 
is said to have been a Cornishman. His tavern consisted of 
three or four log houses, connected by passageAvays. When 
Theodore Rodolf arrived in 1834, he stopped at Hood's 
tavern, kept by a* miner's wife. He said that she kept a good 
house for those times. 

Col. John iloore, who won his title under Jackson, was an- 
other noted landlord of this section. Born in North Carolina 
in 1784, he came to Wisconsin in 1828, and in 1833 built a large 
tavern adjoinini? the site of what a few years later became the 
first capital of the territory, old Belmont. He continued at this 
stand until a ffw years; before liis death in 1S4T. Colonel Moore 
was an active, powerful man, standing six feet two and weighing 
240 pounds, and though of slight education, he had good, prac- 
tical sense. Warm-hearted and hospitable, with hosts of friends, 
no landlord was more popular. 

Charles H. Lamar, prominent in early Lafayette County poli- 
tics, kept a popular tavern on the stage road, two and one-half 
miles east of White Oak Springs. It was a large, two-story, 
frame building and the stage changed horses there. 

Grant County 

Grant County boasts of a tavern with a most unique history. 
In the fall of 1836 Cassville was a candidate for the capital of 
Wisconsin Territory, which then extended to the Missouri River, 
and as a strong inducement its promoters, the New York Com- 
pany, offered to donate a capitol building; but losing the prize 
by a vote of 7 to 6 in the council, the structure was then com- 
pleted for use as a hotel. The panic of 1837 putting a quietus 
on Cassville 's boom, it was used as a warehouse till 1852, when 



Baraboo Republic, Mar. 28. 18.37. 

[138 



The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 

Governor Dewey after his retirement occupied it as a I'csidence.. 
Since 1855 it has been used as a hotel. It was named after Gen. 
J. W. Denniston, one of the promoters. 

The American House at Monroe played an important role in 
Gi'ecn County history. In its hall James R. Vineyard was tried 
and acquitted for killing Hon. Charles C. P. Arndt.-* The 
Monroe House of the same place, when conducted by Joseph Kel- 
ley, Avas a noted tavern. In 1853-54 he advertised"'' that the 
stages from Milwaukee put up at his house three nights a week; 
the Rockford and Mineral Point stages two nights a week; and 
the Freeport and iMadison stage once a week. 

At Prairie du Chien, which also claims tlie first licensed tav- 
ern, cind where the Plioenix House and the Prairie House flour- 
ished long ago, C. W. Hufschmidt (Charlie), perhaps the last 
of the eld time landlords, closed his long and honorable career. In 
1858-59 he was proprietor of the St. Julion, at Reeds Landing, 
Minnesota, then a gateway of the Chippewa Valley; for many 
years prior to his death in 1908 he was host of the Dousman 
House at Prairie du Chien. A big, kindly German, he was every- 
thing that makes an ideal landlord. He was loved by all, and 
despite his nearly ninety years he was young to the end. 

Kenosha County 

Before the advent of the railroad Kenosha was the market for 
the rich country back of it as far as the Rock River, but among 
the many taverns lining its tributary roails the more prominent 
only are here mentioned. At Truesdell, on the Geneva road, 
is a tavern still running, which was known in the forties as Kin- 
caid's. On the same road, S. E. 14, S. 3, T. Bristol, Sereno Fow- 
ler, a native of Connecticut, built a boarding school in 1844, 
which he converted a few years later into a tavern. Dying Lu 



^Vineyard and Arndt ^vere members of the Governor's Council. la 
the course of a dispute over the confirmation of one of Governor Doty's 
appointments to office they quarreled; an altercation ensued, in the 
course of which Vineyard shot and killed Arndt. The tragedy occurred 
in the council room itself. Vineyard was tried on a charge of man- 
slaughter. Charles Dickens, who was then touring America, cited this 
tragedy in his American Notes as typical of public life in the West. 

''Monroe Sentinel, June 14, 18.54. 

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Wisconsin Historical Society 

1848, his widow married James Kello^'-g-. who ran it for some 
years. Two and one-half miles west of Kellogg 's, Jackson, a 
member of the legislature in 1846, conducted a tavern.-® 

Two and one-half iniles wt^t of Jacksoji's on the same road, 
stood the tavern of Dr. Francis Paddock, State senator and fa- 
ther of twelve children. Aliout a mile west was the noted Brass 
Ball House of Daniel ('. Burgess, a native of New York. It took 
its name from the sign, a large brass ball. 

On the town line road, later the plank road, three miles west 
of the city, was Peter Martin's tavern, a favorite with Kenosha 
young people for dances during the sleighing season. Wood's 
tavern, about five miles west of Martin's, Avas opened September 
1, 1850. Built by Uriah Wood, a member of the Legislature in 
1847, who died in the fall of 1850, it was continued for four 
years by his son. Both were natives of Canajoharie, New York. 

On the same road, S. E. Vi) S. 32, T. Paris, was the tavern of 
Lyman Button. Its popularity may be inferred from this adver- 
tisem.ent in the Kenosha Tclegrapli of Januai'y 17, 1851 : 

"Farmers Exciiange Fair after the Old Englisli Style, for the 
purchase, sale, and exhibition of any article of Agriculture or 
Manufacture will be held at Dutton's Tavern on the last Tues- 
day in Februaiw." In 1850 it Avas the place of the first annual 
meeting of the Kenosha County AgrieuHural Society. 

Jonathan Eastman and wife, Phoebe, ke[)t ;'. pt)pular temper- 
ance tavern s(nen miles southwest of Kenosha. Eastman had one 
of the first bearing oi'chards in the county. Then there was Cof- 
fin's tavern on the Burlington road, S. 17, T. Brighton, and the 
Wilmot House of Wilmot, opened by Eplii-aim Wilcox, July 4, 
1850 and still nnining. 

Perhaps the most riOtable tavern in the county was the Acka- 
nuckochowoc House, the name meaning "great bend", erected 
by (len. John Bullen in 1837 in S. 18, T. Salem, at the east end 
of Bullen 's bridge over the Fox River, also built by him in the 



*" The following news item is taken from Kenosha Telrgraph. July, 
1851. "On July 4, there was a big celebration at A. B. Jackson's tavern, 
Bristol. S. M. Booth, of Milwaukee, delivered the oration before a 
thousand persons. Five hundred guests sat down to a well cooked 
bountiful dinner under an awning. Many toasts and responses were 
given, bn'i it whs a temperance meeting throughout." 

[140 1 



*»^ 





IJ-JIIIEJI 

ni f; p ' lis 




Union House, Rochester 





!ltJi.L. 



MaETIN'S TAVEBN, CHAiinEBLAIN 



The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 

same year. The tavern v/as kept by the General (militia) until 
about 1847, when he constructed the National Hotel at Kenosha. 
He was also the chief promoter of the plank road which followed 
the town line to the S. W. 14 of S. E. 14, S. 34, T. Brighton, 
thence angling southwest to Bullen's bridge. He died at Ken- 
osha. August 15, 1850, aged sixty-seven. 

Racine Couiity 

Elisha Kaymond Sr., a soldier of the Rovolutiou, who located 
on S. 24, T. Raymond, in 1835, kept one of the earliest important 
country taverns in Eacine Count}'. He was a man of means and 
brought with him a drove of live stock. 

Capt. John T. TrowljriJge built a two-story log tavern in the 
town of Dover iii 1836. A former sea captain, he served Wis- 
consin as postmaster, justice of the peace, and member of the 
Territorial Legislature. 

In 1836, Levi Godfrey, founder of Rochester, opened the first 
tavern in the western part of the county. That same year, in this 
large, double log house the first political convention in Wiscon- 
sin vras held for the nomination of candidates to the Territorial 
Legislature. In 1838 Godfrey built a new frame tavern on the 
site of the present Union House, selling it later to Peter Camp- 
bell. In 1843 Campbell built the brick portion of the present 
hotel, and on July 4, 1856, the stone addition in the rear, with 
its large ballroom, thirty-two feet wide and sixty long, was dedi- 
cated. The popular landlord was cleared of debts by the suc- 
cess of the party, but died three weeks later. The Rochester 
House, which stood on the east side of the river, Wcss conducted 
in 1851 by J. H. Hall. 

About the year 1839 S. C. Russ opened a tavern just behind 
thp site of the thrce-st'iry brick Waterford House, which he built 
in 1845. The latter is now occupied as a dwelling. Ebenezer 
Soules kept tlic Fox River House, another popular tavern at Wa- 
terford. 

On the site of the present Jones House, Bui'lington, Hugh 
Mc Laughlin, a native of Herkimer, New York, dedicated his new 
tavern, the Burlington House, by a grand ball, January 1, 
1840. In 1860 it was acquired by Charles J. Jones, who in 1874 

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Wisconsin Historical Society 

moved it a block south, and erected on its original site the Jones 
House. The staunch old building is now used as a tenement 
house. 

In going west from Racine in the early fifties one passed these 
taverns: Dan Benton's, W. A, Foster's Four Mile House, Lute 
Secor's at Skunk Grove, Roland Ives's at Ives Grove, James 
Mather's in the S. E. 14 of S. E. 1/4, S. 7, T. YorkvUle, and, a 
mile beyond, J. D. Searle's famous house, with its large dance 
hall. The first time a fat man danced on its spring floor he 
stopped the music in alarm, exclaiming, "Hold on, your floor's 
got the 'ague'." Then came the place of Robert Hankinson, 
an Englishman, on S. 17, T. Dover; at the junction of the plank 
road and the Burlington branch, stood the house of W. H. Ad- 
dington, prominent in local politics ; and about two miles south- 
west was the house of Joseph Tinker, an Englishman, member 
of the assembly in 1851 and county treasurer in 1856. 

Milwaukee County 

The location of several important country taverns of Milwau- 
kee County are now^ within the city limits. One of these is the 
Layton House, still used as a tavern, near the entrance to Forest 
Home cemetery. This three-story brick building w^as built by 
John Layton and his son, Frederick, the philanthropist, in 1849. 
Charles Dewey, previously of the Western, Hale's Corners, was 
the lessee, after which the Laytons ran it for two years, being 
succeeded by John Masoh, a noted landlord of Oak Creek. 

The Dryfoos Hous;'. formerly of the Western, Hale's Cor- 
ner's, is an old tavern. Julius Dryfoos, the proprietor, claims 
that in 1834 William Shields built the original tavern which 
forms a part of the present building. Among its noted land- 
lords were Charles Dewey, Col. J. C. Crounse and Joseph 
Dryfoos, who took possession in 1873 and conducted it until his 
death at the age of ninety in 1910. Formerly popular with 
farmers and drovers, it is now patronized by automobile parties 
from the cities. William Hale, after whom the village was 
named, built the Planters in the forties. It was later known as 
the Southside Hotel, and upon its reconstruction after the fire in 
1888 it was called Neussel's. 

[142] 



The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 

One of the most popular taverns in the State was that of Capt. 
John Bell. Born in Otsego County, New York, he settled on S. 
7, T. Greenfield, in 1842, opened his tavern in 1850, discontinued 
it in 1862, and died there in 1886 at the age of ninety-five. He 
was the embodiment of geniality. An odd character, but suc- 
cessful landlord, was Capt. George Knapp. As early as 1846 
he kept the Five Mile House on the N. W. i/4, S. 15, T. Wauwa- 
tosa. In the fifties he moved a mile southeast on the Lisbon 
plank road, llis place was especially popular with Milwaukee 
young people. On the occasion of their parties he wore knee 
breeches, low buckle shoes, and his hair in a queue. He hated 
the railroads and refused to ride on them even on a pass. 

Waukesha County 

Until 1846 Waukesha County was a part of Milwaukee Coun- 
ty. The astute politicians of the former section, perceiving in 
the rapid growth of the metropolis an impending loss of influ- 
ence, anticipated the theory of "squatter sovereignty" by se- 
curing the enactment of a law which left the decision regarding 
separation solely to the votes of the dissatisfied towns. As a re- 
sult of this successful political maneuver the politicians had not 
only a larger number of local offices at their disposal, but Wau- 
kesha County furnished during the first fourteen years of the 
State's existence, the governor during six years, a United States 
senator, a secretary of state, and a state superintendent of public 
instruction. Since the immense traffic to and from Milwaukee 
passed chiefly through Waukesha County, it contained more tav- 
erns than any other territory of equal size, and, as every one of 
them was a forum of politics, this was the political hotbed of the 
State. Fourteen of its tavern-keepers were members of the Leg- 
islature, a number serving several terms, and one had been a sen- 
ator from Racine County. 

The scope of this article permits a list of only the more im- 
portant taverns of this county. Going west on the Watertown 
plank road one passed the Topliff House at Elm Grove ; the tav- 
erns of C. C. Dewey and John Henson ; the Dousman, later kept 
by Dan Brown; Brackett's; the Phoenix of John B. Cable; and 
the taverns of William S. Clock, Jacob Weitzel, Ezra Maynard, 
David Arlt, and Theodore Loomis — all in a distance of four and 

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Wisconsin Historical Society 

one-half miles. Turning northwest on the pla.uk road one passed 
the Forest House, Mosiey Clark's tavern at Pewaukee, and the 
Burr Oak and Otis's and Frey's taverns at Hartland; Francis 
Schraudenbach 's tavern at Nashotah, Israel MeConneirs at 
Okauchee, Joseph Mann's at the river, and the La Belle House 
at Oeonomowoc. Going west from Loomis' one passed E. P. 
Maynard's, Tubb's, Crombie's, the Hawks, and Barber tav- 
erns at Delafield, and C. L. Annis' and J. D. McDonald's in 
Summit. At Waukesha were the Prairieville, Exchange, and 
American houses; at Genesee, Gabriel Corwin's and Major 
Treadway's Gifford's at North Prairie, Oliver Gibson's at Eagle- 
ville, Jerry Parson's at Jerico, Howe's in S. 32, T. Eagle, and 
the Adams House at AVaterville. Beginning at the county line 
and traveling southwest on the Mukwouago plank road, these 
were encountered : the taverns of William S. Parsons, S. Hunk- 
ins, P. V. Monroe, Captain F. AV. Putney, L. McLean, J. W. 
Fritz, and W. A. Yanderpool. At Mukwonago there were the 
Exchange, the JMukwonago House, and J. Stockman's tavern, 
with L. Stoclmian's a good mile beyond. Traveling southwest 
on the Janesvillc plank road, one passed George Green's tavern, 
Senator "Vic." Willard's at the foot of Little Muskego Lake, 
Martin's tavern at Chamberlain, Aaron Putman's at Big Bend, 
and Jesse Smith's. The principal taverns on the Lisbon plank 
road were those of Francis Bell at Butler and Captain W. W. 
Caswell at Merton. 

Among such an array of landlords and taverns it is hard to 
single out a few for special mention. Matthew Kilmister, of 
the Forest House, a little Englishman, who, wdth his musical 
family, had been brought to America by P. T. Barnum, was one 
of the jolliest, wittiest entertainers, and his table was beyond 
criticism. He and his daughters gave musical and dancing par- 
ties which were attended by persons ])rominent in Waukesha 
society; but farmers, teamsters, and railroad men were also his 
loyal patrons. He died in 1882, aged seventy-five. In cheeiing 
the lives of thousands, he was, like others of his kind, a true bene- 
factor of the race, and the world was brighter for his presence. 

Leonard ^lartin, whose large tavern, shorn of its wings, sur- 
vives as a farmhouse, played an important role as pioneer, land- 
lord, merchant, farmer, and politician. 

[144] 



The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 

"Uncle" Jesse Smith, a pioneer of 1837, built a frame tavern 
on S. 33, T. Vernon, in 1842, which, destroyed by fire, was re- 
placed in 1847 with one of stone, now used as a farmhouse. It 
was provided with a spring floor ballroom in the third story, a 
stone oven with a capacity of forty pies, and water conveyed by 
gravity from a nearby spring. His family did the work in the 
house and on the large farm, the wife knitting the stockings for 
all. He served three tenns in the Legislature. 

Genial, intelligent Samuel H. Barstow, who came from Con- 
necticut in 1839, was equally efficient as landlord and office- 
holder. His principal charges were the Prairieville and Ameri- 
can houses, at Waukesha. He was a brother of Governor Bars- 
tow. 

Capt. F. M. Putney kept a tavern a mile northeast of Pros- 
pect Hill from 1845 to 1848, the stage from Milwaukee stopping 
for breakfast and changing horses there. Later he acquired the 
Exchange House, at Waukesha. He was a successful business 
man, doing much to build up the place. 

The Prairieville House, at the junction of Main street and 
White Rock avenue, was for years the leading tavei'n of Wau- 
fcesha. Popular as a place of entertainment, it was tlie scene 
of political plots and gatherings, the resort of lawyers and slave 
hunters, and when the territorial road was at its zenith, the 
stage house. Its other famous landlord was Peter G. Jones, a 
strong, unique character. Though very portly, he was a fine 
dancer; a stylish dresser, he wore ruffled shirts after they were 
out of fashion. The railroad and the shifting of the business 
center at length caused the tavern's decline. 

Before the railway and the Watertown plank road had di- 
verted traffic from the territorial road, Delafield had three tav- 
erns, foremost of which was the Hawks House. A keen politi- 
cian, a practical joker, a capital story teller, and a good 
provider, landlord Nelson P. Hawks, while a resident of Aztalan, 
had also the distinction of being the builder of the first steam- 
boat constructed in Wisconsin, 



10 r 145 



isconsin Historical Society 



Walworth County 

Since the various histories of Walworth County mention its 
leading taverns their notice here is brief. Maj. Jesse Meaeham, 
a veteran of the War of 1812, kept a popular tavern at Troy un- 
til that place was eclipsed by East Troy. The latter had two 
famous taverns; the East Troy House, founded by Austin Me 
Cracken in 1836 and attaining its highest renoAvn under the 
regime of Emery Thayer, 1842-53, and the Buena Vista 
House. The three and one-half story cobblestone house was built 
by Samuel R. Bradley, a former Milwaukee landlord, who with his 
one-horse wagon collected all the stone used in its construction. 
NothAvithstanding its grand opening about 1847-48, when many 
distinguished persons were present, misfortune overtook the pro- 
prietor. Although the mortgage against the property was sat- 
isfied in 1848 and recorded in 1851, Bradley and his wife mys- 
teriously disappeared soon afterward and were never heard of 
again. Both houses are still running, the Buena Vista as good 
as new under the management of Bullion and Himebaugh. 

Among other taverns on the Janesville road was J. H. Ste- 
wart's, half a mile east of Troy, and Simpson Dart's just beyond 
that village ; two miles west of Mayhew was the Lafayette House 
of Ralph Patrick, commonly called the "Gravel Tavern"; at 
the junction with the Racine road Samuel D. Hastings kept the 
Wisconsin House in 1848 ; then came Samuel H. Tibbitt's popu- 
lar stage house, and a mile west, on S. 10, T. Sugar Creek, was 
Freeborn Welch's gravel tavern, originally conducted by John 
D. Cowles; then came Joseph Barker's on S. 9; Solomon Finen 
kept a tavern north of Turtle Lake, and Perkins S. Childs one 
at Richmond. Winslow Storms had a tavern at Vienna, Dr. 
A. A. Hemmenway one at Spring Prairie, and Adam E. Ray, 
who served a number of years in the Legislature, one at Little 
Prairie. Still other tavei-ns were those of Captain Chamberlain 
northeast of Potter's Lake, of George C. Smith and Hilkiah 
Lilly at Lyons, of Newton McGraw at Darien, and of C. Doug- 
lass at Douglass Comers. 



[146] 




Rhoade's House, Medina 




BuENA Vista House, East Tboy 



The Taverns and Stages of Earl}/ Wisconsin 



Rock County 

Hon. Joseph Goodrich, previously mentioned, was one of the 
most enterprising tavern-keepers of Wisconsin. He was the 
founder of jMiltoii and its college, its first landlord, merchant, 
treasurer, and postmaster. In 1855 he was elected to the Legis- 
lature without c)i)position. In 1838 he built a log house 16 feet 
wide and 20 feet long, in which he lived with his family of thir- 
teen, and kept store and tavern in it besides. The governor, 
members of the Territorial Legislature, and leading lawyers 
stopped with him there. The makeshift table was taken out at 
night and guests slept on the floor or on improvised beds. His 
rates at the time were a shilling (12 I/2 cents) for a meal and the 
same for lodging. In 1845 he erected a large gravel (grout) 
tavern which he conducted until his death at the age of sixty- 
seven in 1867. 

According to Ellery B. Crane, of Worcester, Massachusetts, 
an early resident of Beloit, the Beloit House was the first tav- 
ern in that city. After several landlords, Otis P. and Charles H. 
Biclvuell took charge in 1844, and from that time until 1852 it 
enjoyed its greatest popularity. It was the stage house. The 
Rock River House opened in 1840, passed into the possession of 
Samuel G. Colley and H. W. Cator in 1845. The former became 
sheriff and assemblyman, the latter, sheriff. In 1855 the build- 
ing Avas removed and on its site Prof. J. J. Bushnell erected 
a neAv hotel, the Bushnell House; in 1868 it was bought by S. 
G. Goodwin who changed its name to the Goodwin House. 

An account of the taverns on the stage route between Janes- 
ville ajid ]\Iadison has hven written by Byron Campbell of 
Evausville, which renders a notice of them here unnecessary. 
At Johnstown Center, at one time an important point on the 
Milwaukee stage road, Henry B, Johnson conducted a fine tav- 
ern, with a large, spring floor ballroom, while at old Johnstown 
John A. Fletcher ran one. He was one of four men, all named 
John, wlio laid out the township, hence the name, Johnstown. 
A mile and a half west of Johnstown Center stood David Mc- 
Killip's tavern. 

At Clinton Coi-ners, a mile west of the present Clinton Junc- 
tion, Griswold Weaver kept a public house, and at Summerville, 

[ 147 ] 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

four miles east, Bill Hillsdale was the most popular landlord be- 
tween Beloit and Darien. In 1848 A. Warner was landlord of 
the Green Mountain House, six miles north of Janesville, and 
E. D. Woodbridge of the Spring Valley House, in S. 3, T. Spring 
Valley. The arrival of the railroad and the passing- of the stage 
line to Racine are indicated by Levi Spears in 1857, when he of- 
fers his Emerald ([rove House for sale. It was a two-story brick 
building, 36 by 50 feet, with a wooden annex, 24 by 3G feet and 
a stable 30 by 60 feet."-^ 



Jefferson County 

After the completion of the plank road, Watertown, early a 
place of promise, became the second city in the State and a 
bonanza for taverns ; their story, however, has been well told in 
local histories. People and produce from the country to the 
west and north for many miles passed through Watertown to 
Milwaukee, and land seekers made it their headquarters. J. B. 
Van Alstine, for years the popular landlord of the Exchange, 
declared that he thought business dull in those palmy days un- 
less he had a hundred guests and as many horses to care for. 
Two of the old taverns are still running, the Watertown House, 
now the Commercial, and the Buena Vista, wiiich was opened 
in February, 1848, by Capt. Henry Bogel, a veteran of the Mex- 
ican War. During the regime of William Wiggcnhorn and his 
son, Eugene, the Buena Vista was the rendezvous of German 
revolutionist refugees, among them Carl Schurz and Emil Rothe, 
while on Sundays German services were held in its hall. 

The present Jefferson House, at Jefferson, occupies the site 
of an oldei- house of the same name which served in the early 
days as a temporary courthouse. Its most distinguished land- 
lord was Capt. Daniel Howell, state senator in 1854-55. 

The Green Mountain House, now a part of the Hotel Fort, of 
Fort Atkinson, was opened in 1848 by Milo Jones. There was 
a grand celebration at this house, July 4, of that year, at which 
Aunt Sally (^Irs. Jones) served a meat dinner, a meat supper 
and, mirabilc dictii, ice cream and cake at three o'clock A. M. 



Advertisement in Janesville Gazette, March, 1857. 

[ 148 ] 



The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 

Two miles east of Watertown stood the Wisconsin House, 
"with its never failing supply of water" ;^^ next came the Maple 
Crovo Tavoni of Hamilton Hastings at Ixonia; and a mile east 
of it was Vicksburg, on the Rock River, with its Sacramento 
House. At Concord was Austin Kellogg 's place; at Johnson's 
Creek Charles Bell held forth; at Aztalan, where four stages 
made connections for the cardinal points, the Aztalan House 
served its numerous patrons; at Milford was Nute's popular 
stand; at Lake Mills, J. L. Manville (whig sheriff) and B. Bald- 
win kept the American House; and at Waterloo John Walker 
was landlord of the Waterloo House. At Golden Lake Ortiges 
Bullwinkel, a droll German, who later removed to Helenville, was 
tavern-keeper and brewer. In S. 4, T. 6, R. 14, stood William 
Torrey 's Yellow Tavern ; four miles northwest of Fort Atkinson 
was Jared Crane's public house, while in S. 17, T. 6, R. 13, 
Erastus Snell kept the "temperance" Cedar Lake House, where 
the stage changed horses. In 1850 Wilcox and Brace ran the 
tavern at Sullivan, then in S. 25, T. 6, R. 16, and advertised: 
"No money required of Pedlars for their bills by their choice."-^ 
This Avas evidentlj^ a bid for their good will. 



Dodge County 

Only a few of the coiuitry taverns of large, fertile Dodge 
County can be given. The names of those along the Watertown 
stage line were obtained chiefly through Mr. J. E. Sawyer of 
Horieon, Wisconsin. 

Town of Oak Grove: Major Pratt built the first log house and 
tavern in 1S41 , in tlie N. E. V4 of N. E. 14, S. 31 ; E. Owen's place 
was a half mile north in the S. W. i/4, S. 32, and the Caldwell 
House in the S. E. 14, S. 19. Sam Stanton, who arrived in-. 
1843, ran the popular house in the N. W^ 1/4 of N W. V^, S. 8. 
Stages changed horses there. Thomas Marshall's tavern stood 
on the N. W. 1/4 of N. ^Y. 1/4, S. 7. 

Town of Burnett: Smith's Inn, on the S. W. 14 of S. E. i^;, 
S. 32, the favorite on the line, was conducted by Ranslow Smith,. 



="- Advertisement in "Watertown Chronicle, Febiuaiy, 1851. 
"Waukesha Democrat, Jan. 1, 1850. 

\ 149 1 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

who arrived in 1844. At the southwest corner of the towa 
Isaac Noyes kept tavern. George Smith, a brother of Ranslow, 
ran the house at the intersection of the roads, N. W. I/4 of N. E. 
1^, S. 32. A mile and a quarter north, on N. W. 14 of S. E. 14, 
S. 20, Lyman Smith, another brother, kept tavern. His daugh- 
ter married Sherman S. Booth the Abolitionist editor. 

Town of Trenton : On the N. E. 14, S. 15, James McCallum 
was landlord of the famous Buckhorn Tavern. He was bom in 
Pennsylvania in 1816, and came to Wisconsin in 1844. He 
opened the tavern the same year, discontinued it as such in 
1856, and died in 1888. G. C. Gunn kept the house at the S. W. 
14, S. 4, and David Bruce one at the S. E. 14 of S. E. 14, S. 29, 
Town of Chester. About twelve miles north of the Buckhorn 
was the Red Hen. 

In January, 1850, Daniel B. Douglas opened a tavern at 
Neosho. H. G. Phelps was the popular landlord at Mayville, 
beginning in 1847. Hustisford, which still depends on a stage, 
had William T. Ward and Sam Herrick successively as land- 
lords. The jnassive Rock River House at Tlieresa, still in ser- 
vice, was built in 1858 by Theodore Husting and John Langen- 
Jbach, and was long famous for its dinners of fish and game. 

Washington and Ozaukee Counties 

Philip Laubenheimcr, who located at Richfield in 1842, kept 
the first tavern in Washington County. George N. Irish was a 
famous host of early West Bend, but of more permanent influ- 
ence w'as B. Goetter, who was also a merchant and brewer. 
Timothy Hall kept the popular Half Way House on the Fond 
du Lac stage route, one and one-half miles northwest of Schleis- 
ingerville. The Webster House at Newburg, built for Lyon 
Silverman in 1849, was kept by D. F. Lytle in 1856 ; subse- 
quently it was conducted by Charles Kletzsch, later of the Re- 
publican House of IMilwaukee. 

Traveling north in Milwaukee County toward Cedarburg, the 
wayfarer was greeted by jovial Ernst Knauth's tavern sign, 
"Zum Braunen Hirsch", or The Brown Deer. A couple of 
miles over the line, in Ozaukee County, was Mequon, then a 
flourishing village. M. Silverman, merchant and landlord, 
kept the Mequon House in 1850-51 ; Griffin's was the stage house 

[150] 



The Taverns and Stages ol Early Wisconsm 

in 1852, while Giles B. Posson ran the Franklin House. Wil- 
liam F. Opitz, a member of the assembly, also kept tavern here 
during this decade, and later one near Saukville. At Cedar- 
burg, Col. Conrad Horneffer, sheriff in 1859, conducted the 
Washington House for years. At Grafton, formerly Hamburg, 
John Simon was the landlord of the Wisconsin House. At 
Saulrville Joseph Fischbein kept the Pulaski House, and Wil- 
liam Cooper the Saukville House. In 1848-49 Orlando Foster 
was the proprietor of the Washington Hotel, and in 1857 George 
F. Mecklem advertised the Mecklem House, corner of Main and 
Franldin streets, Port Washington. ^"^ 

Shebovaan Count\' 

The stage route from Sheboygan to Fond du Lac was a great 
thoroughfare, and after the completion of the plank road early 
in the fifties, J. Frink & Company had eighteen four-horse 
teams in service on this line, except in winter when four suf- 
ficed. Leaving Fond du Lac at seven o'clock, A. M., the stage 
changed horses at Newton Kellogg 's excellent tavern, twelve 
miles east; crossing the county line it next passed John Ehle's 
place; at Greenbush it stopped at Sylvanus Wade's Half Way 
House, the best on the road, where the west bound passengers 
took dinner. The house is now run by his son. One-half mile 
east was Russel and Miller's tavern; then came Henry Giffin's 
Valley House, and two miles beyond, at Plymouth, dinner was 
taken at John W. Taylor's Cold Spring House; later Monroe 
Flint's Quitquioc House, now the Commercial, got this patron- 
age. About five miles east was James Little 's tavern ; Samuel 
McComas held forth at Sheboygan Falls, and Warren Hill kept 
the stage house at Sheboygan. 

Eberhard Schlaich, a college bred German, who came to Ply- 
mouth in 1850, was landlord and postmaster there for a number 
of years. A rare tribute was paid him in 1868, when his native 
town, Hepbach, Wurtemberg, wanted him for mayor, his father 
and grandfather having held that office for many years, but he 
preferred to remain in America. 



*" Ozaukee County Democrat, December, 1857. 

[151] 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

At Howard's Grove, Ernest Sehlichting, called "Buschkoe- 
ing", because of his large holdings of woodland, kept the Wash- 
ington House; and at Rhine Center, August Bruss, a mighty- 
hunter, was landlord of the Flag until succeeded by Louis Seng- 
laub, who was also a great shot. 

Calumet County 

The more important taverns in Calumet County were M. Ort- 
lieb's and the Chilton House, at Chilton. Advertisements of the 
latter show James Robinson in possession in 1854 and Asaph 
Green in 1859.^^ The rival town of Gravcsville had Dennis 
Sharon at the helm of the Gravesville House in 1858, and I. C. 
Aldrich in 1895."- Rudolph Puehner, Avho opened the first tav- 
ern at New Holstein in 1849, built a store and tavern combined 
in 1857. He was a German poet and writer of some note. He 
died in 1913, aged eighty-four, and was buried in Milwaukee, 
the Deutscher- Press Club conducting the services. 

Manitowoc County 

Advertisements in the Manitowoc Herald show E. R. Smith 
as proprietor of the National Hotel in 1854 ; but from 1856 to 
1863 the name of Thomas Windiate appears. Fred Langenbach 
is given as the landlord of Franklin Hall from 1853 to 1860, 
while the McCallum House of 1856 changes significantly to Ger- 
mania Hall in 1857, with Schiueter and Troemel as proprietors.^^ 

E. M. Thorpe Avho was also a physician and dentist, appears at 
the head of Thorp's Hotel from 1857 to 1859. In 1856 Alexan- 
der McCallum offers his new hotel at Two Rivers for sale. In 
December 1857, William Stearne announces the opening of the 
new Fond du Lac and Manitowoc Stage Route, by way of Cal- 
umet and Chilton. 



=' Manitowoc Herald. Apr. 1, 1854; Chilton Times, Aug. 13, 1859. 

="' Gravesville Republican, August-September, 1858-59. 

=" During the Civil War Herman Schlueter became major of the 9th 
Wisconsin Volunteers, while his partner in the Germania Hall served 
as a lieutenant in the 26th Regiment. After the war and until his 
death in 1873 the latter conducted a German Republican paper, Die 
Manitowoc Zeitung. 

[152 1 



The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 

A famous tavern on the road to Green Bay was that of Clif- 
ford King, near the Maribel caves. But the most popular tav- 
ern in the county was that of August Teitgen, six miles south- 
west of Manitowoc, which was opened in 1852. The landlord, 
an educated, broad-minded, forceful German of great executive 
ability and sound judgment, became the counselor as well as the 
host of his newly-arrived countrymen. His wife was gentle and 
sympathetic, a friend to all in distress. The table, the rooms, the 
atmosphere, were all so attractive that even after its founder's 
death in 1885, the place was continued as a public house until 
1909, when his son and successor passed away. 

Charles Brandis, for years a successful landlord at Kewaunee, 
conducted the Steamboat House as early as 1859. In 1861 he 
advertised a Fourth of July ball, with tickets at $1.50 and sup- 
per served at seven o 'clock P. M."^ In 1859, Mr. Simon, notary 
and postmastei', was proprietor of the Metropolitan House of 
Ahnapee (Algoraa). 

Only a few of tlie many German taverns north of Milwaukee 
have been mentioned. In a recent letter to the Sheboygan Her- 
ald an old-timer speaks appreciatively of them. He had come 
from the army weak and emaciated, but during the intensely 
cold winter months of 1863-64, he slept warm in the comfort- 
able feather beds of these taverns and gained thirty pounds in 
six weeks on their substantial fare. 

Fond du Lac and Green Counties 

James Ewen, proprietor of the Lewis House, Fond du Lac, 
was one of the leading men of this city during the stirring decade 
from 1850 to 1860, when several plank roads and a railroad 
reached it. Ripon, too, had a landlord of great energy and dar- 
ing enterprise, Capt. D. P. Mapes, Avho built two large hotels 
there, and was one of the founders of Ripon College. Peter V. 
Sang, a German, who had served eight years as a soldier at Fort 
Winnebago, started a tavern at Lamartine in 1843. He was suc- 
cessful and held many local offices. E. F. Underwood, now in 
his ninetj^-second year, opened the first tavern at Oakfield in 
1855 ; he was the first postmaster, justice of the peace, and sta- 



Advertisement in Kewaunee Enterprise. May 15, 1861. 

ri53i 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

tion and express agent (1856), Cromwell Laithe conducted the 
Waupun Exchange, 1853-56. 

The principal taverns on the stage line from Ripon to Port- 
age were the Center House, eight miles out ; Dantz 's, nine miles 
northeast of Kingston, and Albert Greenleaf 's Kingston House. 
Austin IMcCracken, the founder of East Troy, built the Yose- 
mite House at Markesan and became a power there. In 1856 
Kingsbury's stage line was established from Portage to Osh- 
kosh, by way of Kingston, Princeton, and Berlin. At Prince- 
ton was the American House ; at Berlin, the Fox River House, 
Love's and Forsythe's; but names of taverns often changed with 
their proprietors. 



Waushara, Portage, Wood, Juneau, and Waupaca Counties 

After the completion of the railroad to Berlin in 1857, Davis 
& Moore's daily stage passed respectively the Four, Six and 
Eight Mile houses, then common appellations for wayside inns; 
it also passed Fuller's and the Spring Lake House to Wautoma, 
stopping at "Eb." Martin's or at "Old Nat" Boyington's.^^ 
Proceeding, Lloyd's was passed eight miles out, then Wiggin- 
horn's at Buena Vista, and C. A. Looniis', at Plover. The jour- 
ney ended at Stevens Point, where the stage put up first with 
"old man" Lloyd (Nelson B.) but later with Joseph B. Phelps, 
until William Avery's City Hotel became the stage house. 

Leaving the railroad at New Lisbon, where W, P. Carr kept 
the stage house, tlie stage passed George Salter's Half Way House, 
six miles, proceeding thence to William Palmer's tavern at 
Yellow River (Necedah) ; ten miles beyond the latter dinner waa 
taken at Sarles' Lone Pine House; twenty miles farther the stage 
was ferried across the river to Grand Rapids, where R. H. Grace, 
a man of weight (three hundred and forty pounds) kept the 
Grand Rapids House, J. X. Brands, the Magnolia, and D, F. 
Emerson, the Wisconsin ; from Grand Rapids the stage pro- 
ceeded to Plover and Stevens Point. 

About the year 1856 Myers and Worden established a daily 
four-horse stage line from Stevens Point, by way of Plover, Nel- 



Wautonia Journal, May 25, 1858. 

[154] 



The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 

son Blodgett's tavern at Stockton, Alexander Gray's at Badger, 
and A. E. Smith's excellent house at Waupaca, to Weyauwega 
and Gill's Landing, where, in season, boats arrived every even- 
ing from Fond du Lac and Oshkosli. The Landing was con- 
nected by a two-mile plank road with Weyauwcga, assuring a 
good patronage to the latter 's public houses. The Weyauwega 
House was especially popular under the regime of Maj. A. C. 
Worden of the stage line. He subsequently made a splendid war 
record and became sheriff of Waupaca County and chief of po- 
lice at Oshkosh. He died at the latter place in 1912, at the age 
of eighty-five. The La Dow House did not fare so well. In 1856, 
G. A. Spurr, later of New London, and W. C. La Dow were pro- 
prietors ; in 1859, J. C. Knox. The North American, now known 
as the Lake View House, was run by W. Baxter in 1855. 

Going from Weyauwega with Young and Reas' stage a detour 
was made to Fremont, where A. J. Mayo kept the Fremont 
House in 1857 ; thence via Readfield past Theodore Speng- 
ler's tavern to Medina, where Capt. William Young 'officiated 
fo?- years as landlord and stage operator. He won his title in 
the Civil War and was also State senator. Though quiet, he 
was strong physieall.y and mentally. His firm also ran a stage 
line to Oshkosh, and later from Appleton to Shawano. It is said 
that on one occasion, to drive out competitors, he carried pas- 
sengers free and gave them their dinner besides. He died in 
1890, aged sixty-nine. There was another popular tavern at 
Medina, the Rlioades House, built by Andiew and Elias Rhoades 
in 1855. It was discontinued upon the death, in 1903, of An- 
drew, tlie surviving brother, at the age of eighty-eight. 

At Winneconne C. R. Hamlin and A. C. Mclntyre kept tav- 
erns. Later the indomitable Capt. D. P. ilapes came from 
Ripon and left his impress as landlord, hotel builder, and pro- 
moter of the railroad and the West Side. Two and one-half 
miles east was Julius Ashby's place; and at Butte des Morts, 
once a close contender for the county seat, Thomas R. Petford, 
an Englishman, who died in 1908, kept tavern for sixty years. 

The earlier stages to Green Bay took the military road skirt- 
ing the eastern shores of Lake Winnebago, but the development 
of the country west of it caused the establishment in the fifties 
of a stage line by way of Oshkosh and Neenah. The completion 

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Wisconsin Historical Society 

of the plank road from Green Bay to Kaukauna, together with the 
opening of the Fox River Canal, gave an impetus to this section, 
and in 1858-59, two rival lines of Concord coaches competed for 
the traffic between Green Bay and Oshkosh. The principal hos- 
telries on this line were M. Griffin's stage house and Col. R. P, 
Edgarton's Winnebago Hotel, at Oshkosh; R. C. Weeden's tav- 
ern at Neenah; M. Burrough's American House and E. B. 
Northam's tavern at Menasha; Thomas Hanna's National Hotel^ 
and the taverns of A. B. Bowen and Col. R. P. Edgarton, at 
Appleton ; Peter Martin 's tavern at the foot of the Kaukauna 
Rapids; Wright's tavern at Wrightstown; and W. P. Call's 
American House at Depere. 

On the line to Shawano Lucius Collar kept the tavern at Hor- 
tonville. At New London, in 1858, E. P. Perry conducted the 
Perry House ' ' on the south side of the river near the steamboat 
landing ",^^ and W. W. Hull, the Angier House, of which Lut- 
sey was at one time proprietor. The New London House was 
built shortly after by Henry Ketchum, who was succeeded by 
George Spurr, an experienced, genial landlord. At Shawano the 
Traveler's Home was erected in 1855 on the site of the present 
Murdock House by Hiram Westcott, who conducted it till 1870. 
A native of St. Lawrence County, New York, he settled in this 
unbroken wilderness in 1853 ; before his deatli, Avhich occurred 
in 1900 at the age of eighty-tAvo, he saw a wonderful transfor- 
mation in the surrounding region. He was a credit to his occu- 
pation. 

Northern Wisconsin 

The data about the following taverns were gleaned chiefly 
from contemporary numbers of the Wausau Central Wiacovsin. 
From 1853 to 1874 Charles Andrew Singles advertised the For- 
est House of Wausau. ' ' It was a good tavern for that country, ' ' 
Baid "Hod" Davis, of Berlin, Nestor of stage drivers, "though 
we did sit on benches in the dining room." In 1854-60 John 
LelMesuriere presided over the Washington and Superior houses, 
respectively, and managed a band. In 1857 S. Mitchell was pro- 
prietor of the United States Hotel, at Wausau ; he was succeeded 



Advertisement in Shawano Venture, Oct. 15, 1858. 

[156 1 



The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 

by S. Kronenvvetter in 1861. At Knowltoii, Jacob X. Brands 
kept the tavern in 1856 ; in later years it was conducted by 
Leonard Guenther Sr. C. A. Loomis, afterward at Plover, 
founded the Twin Island House, midway between Wausau and 
Stevens Point, conducted by J. W. Ba])cock. At Falls City, 
George W. Kollock was proprietor in 1857-58. He was suc- 
ceeded by W. G. Blair, whose widow kept the tavern as late as 
1875. At Mosinee S. Kronen wetter held forth in 1859-61. At 
Eau Plaine, fourteen miles north of Stevens Point, M. Wylie 
advertised the Plymouth in 1856 as "new" and that "passen- 
gers from the steamer dine here daily". The tavern remained 
in his family until destroyed by fire a few years ago. About 
four miles south was Hall 's placcv 

In 1860 0. V. AVheeler operated a daily stage line between 
Stevens Point and Wausau. Including stops it made the run 
in ten hours. Just before the railroad reached Wausau in 1874, 
D. P. Bentley ran this line as far as Merrill (Jenny). The ho- 
tels at this place during the seventh decade were the Eagle of 
A. Space, the Pot^sey of Jules Poesey, and the Jenny House of 
Alanson C. Norway, who served for thirteen years as c imty 
judge. 

Columbia County 

The portage on the old waterway from Green Bay to Prairie 
du Chien has been so generously treated l)y tlie historian, that 
little need be said about the early taverns of that vicinity. The 
Franklin House furnished "royal entertainments" to official- 
dom at Fort Winnebago, while among the half dozen hotels at 
Portage during its boom in the fifties. Uncle Dick Veeder's tav- 
ern was the most conspicuous. Those were years of golden har- 
vests for Portage landlords, its population increasing from a 
few hundred in 1850 to 3,000 in 1854, and, it is averred, 10,000 
persons crossed the Wisconsin River at this point in 1855. In 
1852 John B. Dubay opened a tri-weekly stage line to Stevens 
Point, using "two horse eliptic spring carriages. Fare going 
$3.50; returning, $3.00."'' Myers, Kollock, and Wigginhom, 



^'Advertisement iu Portage River Times. July 12, 1852; September, 
1853. 

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Wisconsin Historical Society 

of Buena Vista, advertised a similar line in 1853. Dubay also 
operated a stage line to Madison. In 1853-54 the steamer 
"("laT'iou"' plied between Galena. Portage City, and Dell Creek. 
Amonj]j prominent Columbia County tavern-keepers were 
"Wallace Rovv^an at Poynette; A. P. Birdsey, Columbus; Free- 
man Simmons, Lodi ; and Major Dickeson at Wyo; ena. 

Marquette, Sauk, and Richland Counties 

The town of Oxford, which has recently been resuscitated, 
was quite a place in 1859-60. with two lawj'ers, two doctors, and 
twelve business houses. B. N. Smith and Henry Farnham were 
the landlords."^ In 1861-62 JMontello secured the supremacy in 
Marquette County; its tavern, the American House, was kept 
by ]\Ia.rk Derham, "that old popular landlord." George M. 
Davis ran the stage to Pardeeville. 

Sauk County was tavern territory until a late date, for the 
Chicago & Nortli western Railway did not cross it till 1872. 
The American House, at Baraboo, was condiicted by A. Q. 
Adams in 1855, P. Van Wendell in 1856, and W. C. Warner in 
1859; the Baraboo House, by Lyman Clark in 1835-56. and Hi- 
ram T. Mason in 1857. The Western Hotel, at the northeast 
corner of the public square, built and formerly managed by 
Col. E. Summer, was kept by AV. Wallace iu 1856-58; the 
Exchange House by Volney Moore in 1857-59. At Reedsburg 
the Mansion House, built in 1855 by Dr. IMackey, was con- 
ducted from 1856 to 1859 by J. and A. Smith, who also owned 
the stage line to Baraboo. The Alba House, built in 1856 by 
Alba B. Smith, Avas bought in 1857 by Rt-uben Gieen, who also 
had the stage line to Ivilbourn. At the Baxter House, Prairie 
du Sac, D. K. Baxter in 1857 and for years thereafter main- 
tained the good name established by Stcinmetz and Fife. O. 
Elmer ran the Cottage Inn at Delton, and Q. J. Adams, pre- 
viously of Bai-aboo, the Dell Creek House at Newport. 

The American House, the first tavern at Richland Center, was 
built by Ira S. Haselton, the founder of the village, who wa^ 
later elected to Congress from Missouri. He was succeeded by 



* Advertisement in Oxford RcpnhUcan Press, Sept. 3, 1859. 

[158] 



The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 

Albert Neff in 1855-56, who was followed by Hiram Wilsey, and 
he in turn by Neff in 1861. In 1857 MeCune and Terry's stage 
line, by way of Richland Citj^ made connections with the new 
railroad at Lone Rock. 



Vtrnoii Count V 

The following description of Vernon County taverns was sup- 
plied by Gen. Earl M. Rogers, of Viroqua, shortly before his 
death, which occurred in January 3, 1914. 

The first tavern in Viroqua was the Dunlap, a story and a half log 
building. It changed landlords often and finally was destroyed by fire. 
In 1852 Bullard and Terhune built the Buckeye. In 1855 the late 
General J. M. Rusk, but recently elected sheriff, became its landlord. 
Being a genial host, the Buckeye was always full and prisoners seemed 
pleased to be arrested by him. In the summer of 1852 Luther Nichols 
built the North Star; S. C. Lincoln was its landlord until the autumn 
of 1857, when Rusk took the management and made the North Star the 
popular stopping place.^ 

In the spring of 1856 E. Alexander came to Bad Axe, later known as 
Liberty Pole, and having a fiddle, he saw an opportunity to apply his 
talents as a dancing master in a region where the contra dance was 
the principal amusement. He built the Wisconsin House, with the 
ofiBce, dining room, kitchen, and a bedroom on the first floor; the second 
floor contained a ballroom and two small bedrooms. He catered to 
the popular amusements of the time, fiddling for a while classic music, 
but as that did not move the souls to inspiration, the dancers employed 
local talent, one who could round up with "Old Dan Tucker" and the 
"Buffalo Girls," where all could join in the chorus: "I danced with a 
Buffalo girl, whose heel kept arocking and had a hole in her stocking." 
Belated travelers arriving on a night of such a "merry-go-round", were 
obliged to go to Viroqua. 

Albert Bliss built a store and tavern combined at Readstown, in the 
Kickapoo wilderness. The meals prepared by Mrs. Bliss were the talk 
of the country. 



^The following announcement appeared in the Viroqua Westeryi 
Times, Nov. 19, 1856: "The Buckeye House — This well known stand 
formerly kept by J. M. Rusk, has been thoroughly repaired, and will 
hereafter be kept by the 'Old Proprietor' himself in person. J. M. 
Rusk." In 1857, in advertising a rate of 75 cents a day for board at 
this house, he signs himself "J. M. Rusk, High Sheriff of Bad Axe 
County." On Oct. 14, 1857, he announces he has taken charge of the 
North Star Hotel. 

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Wisconsin Historical Society 

De Soto was settled in 1S56 by Boston people, cultured but short of 
capital. A Mr. Trott built the quite pretentious Bay State House, 
v/here the Bostonians met to talk of Hawthorne, Longfellow, and Emer- 
son; most of them boasted of a personal acquaintance with Sumner 
and Wendell Phillips. They are gone; the river refuses a landing; 
the Burlington Railroad stops only a local at De Soto, but the old Bay 
State House still stands. 

Old advertisements confirm the foregoing account and add the 
Victory House of John Sellers, and the Eagle Hotel of Eddy and 
Wetherbee, at Victory- ; and John Britt's tavern at Franklin 
City. 

Relative to stage lines General Rogers writer: 

The first stage line was established in 1848, supplying Mount Ster- 
ling, Badger, and Springville. Later the line was extended to Sparta, 
Black River Falls, Eau Claire, Menomonie, Hudson, and Stillwater, 
Minnesota, where it connected with another line running to St. Paul. 
During the winter of 1856-57, after the close of navigation, all mail and 
passengers passed over the "Overland" Black River road. Mail was 
brought from Galena to Prairie du Chien, whence it was forwarded in 
one bag to Stillwater over the above route. Passenger traffic was 
heavy. General Rusk was the contractor for the line from Prairie du 
Chien to Sparta. He was only an occasional driver, taking the reins 
when he went over the lines to settle bills, but this, no doubt, gave rise 
to the tradition that he had been a stage driver. In 1858, when the 
railroad reached La Crosse, the overland traffic on this line became 
quiet. [Yet in November 1858, Hurd and Rusk's advertisement of their 
stage, mail, and express line, appears for the first time as a "New & 
Short Route to St. Paul and all Points North, Through to St. Paul in 
Three Days."] 

La Crosse County 

In 1858 the Western Enterprise, built by J. i\L Levy, corner 
of Front and State streets, La Crosse, was conducted by that 
"old, experienced, and widely known landlord", Simeon Kel- 
logg; G. IT. Willson, a famous host, formerly of the Onalaska 
House of that place, managed the pretentious New England 
House at Front and Alain .streets; whihi TuUmadge and Gridley 
ran the Tallmadge House at Third and State streets. The Au- 
gusta House, on the northeast corner of Front and Pearl streets, 
also built by J. I\I. Levy, was conducted in 1859 by E. Bicknell 
and Company. In 1854 Douglas and Price advertised a stage 

[160] 



The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 

line from Black River Falls to La Crosse, ' ' through in one day, 
fare, $2.50". In 1856-57 H. B. Herriek, of Viroqua, ran a daily 
stage line between that place and La Crosse. There was also a 
stage line to Baraboo, and one to Portage before the construc- 
tion of the railroad.^" 

The best known tavern in Trempealeau County during the 
fifties was the one built by Alexander McGilvray, a Scotchman, 
in 1854, who also established a ferry across Black River, on S. 16, 
T. Caledonia. The tavern was in a busy place called Scotia, on 
the old Burbank stage route from La Crosse to St. Paul and the 
freight and mail route to old Whitehall. 

Before the completion of the railroad from Green Bay to Win- 
ona, in 1871, Trempealeau was a great grain market and had 
several prosperous taverns. Among these were D. W. Gilfillan's 
Vermont House, the Trempealeau House, the Melchior House of 
Jacob Melchoir, and Frank Utter 's tavern. Melchoir was the 
first brewer of the county. The Two Mile House of John Arnt 
and Simon 's Four Mile House, had bar, dance hall and bowling 
alley. 

Buffalo and Monroe Counties 

In 1856 John Buehler conducted the Wisconsin House at 
Fountain City ; C. W. Gilbert kept Gilbert 's Hall and J. Bron- 
nenkant, the Washington House. A little later and until 1894 
Albert Scherer set the best table in Buffalo County, as the writer 
can attest. In 1858 J. R. Hurlburt was the proprietor of the 
Alma House, at Alma. 

Sparta, at the intersection of two great stage lines, was a 
good place for taverns, but these have been described in local his- 
tories. In 1859 a big Fourth of July celebration was concluded 
with a dinner, "one of the grandest ever prepared, by S. B. 
Aylesworth of the AVarner House." The twelfth toast, "The 
North and South: Let no other line than Crinoline divide them", 
was responded to by Prof. L. C. Morse." D. M. West kept tav- 
ern at Leon, in 1854 a close rival of Sparta for the county seat. 
Adam Russel was an early tavern-keeper near the site of Cash- 



' La Crosse Democrat. April, 1854. 
Sparta Democrat, July 13, 1859. 

11 [ 161 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

ton, and Adrian Cole in Cole's Valley. The taverns of Sam 
Bacon, Hugh Gallagher and Pitts, and Tom Emory's tavern at 
Cataract, were on the Black River Falls stage road. 

Jackson County 

While the tavern-keepers have their Rusk whom they must 
share with the stage men, the latter can boast of a man who was 
"lumberman, law^^er, judge, legislator, merchant, banker, and 
oqperator of most undaunted nerve and unimpeachable charac- 
ter". This was William T. Price of Black River Falls, who at 
the time of his death was a member of Congress. Besides operat- 
ing the line to La Crosse, already mentioned, he was the contrac- 
tor for the link in the ' ' Overland ' ' between Sparta and Hudson. 

Black River Falls was the habitat of the lumberman long be- 
fore the coming of the farmer, and the Shanghai House of that 
place was opened in 1846 with a characteristic celebration, peo- 
ple attending from a great distance. Dancing continued for 
fifty-one hours and quantities of whisky were consumed. At a 
meeting of this house to secure a clergyman for the place, after 
a drink all around, the vote taken favored a ]\Iethodist. The 
first services were held in the dining room, and the poker game 
in the adjoining barroom was interrupted long enough for one 
of the players to start a hymn. 

At Melrose, on the La Crosse stage road, Hugli Douglas Sr., 
a Scotchman, built the Douglas House in 1852. It was a pop- 
ular stand for years. Miss Margaret Price procured the names 
of these taverns on the "Overland" route in Jackson County: 
Allen's at Pole Grove, George Markley's in Garden Valley, 
Davis' four miles beyond, and Garwin Green's in Tamarack; 
south of the town were Fisher's tavern, and, at Pine Hill, that 
of Dave Robinson. 

Clark County 

The O'Neill House of Neillsville, which was, until its destruc- 
tion by fire several years ago, the leading hotel of Clark County, 
was built in 1858 by James O'Neill, the founder of the city. He 
■was its landlord for a long time. He was born in Lisbon, New 
York in 1801, and came to Black River Falls in 1839. In 1849 

[ 162 1 



i he Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 

he located at Neillsville, Avhere he died in 1882. He was a lum- 
berman as well as tavern-keeper and served two terms in the 
Legislature. Two miles north, at Weston Rapids, an early rival 
of Neillsviile, there was a large tavern ; while L. R. Stafford, a 
notable cliaracter, kept one in connection with his store at Staf- 
fordville, situated between the two places. Stafford's widow af- 
terward k(^pt the Reddan House, at Neillsville. 

Hau Claire County :md Northern Wisconsin 

Although Eau Claire was credited with only a hundred peo- 
ple in 1855, Adin Randall had faith in the location and built the 
large Eau Claire House in 1856, and installed A. W. Bosworth 
as landlord. L. Slingluff and Son, proprietors in 1859, an- 
nounced that "Stage lines leave this house daily for Menomonie, 
Hudson, Stillwater, Black River Falls, and Sparta, making sure 
connections with the Milwaukee & La Crosse R. R. Leave for 
Alma and North PejMn three times a week."^- In 1857 the Ni- 
agara House on the West Side was opened by G. A. Buffington, 
who became later a wealthy lumberman. In 1858 the Chandler 
House, formerly the Northwestern, was kept by Chauncey 
Chandler, and the Eau Claire Exchange by John Taylor. 

On the Black River Falls route the leading tavern was that 
of George McLellan, which stood in the S. W. l^ of S. W. 1/4, S. 
18, T. 25, R. 7, Eau Claire County. Here the stage changed 
horses. McLellan who was born at AVoodstock, New Hampshire, 
in 1829, conducted the station from 1857 until the discontinu- 
ance of the stage in 1870. He was a blacksmith and ran a shop 
in connection with the house, where he died in 1908. Silkworth's 
tavern on tliis road was in S. 2, T. 24, R. 7, Trempealeau 
County. 

The Daily Independent of Chippewa Falls published in its 
issue of January 14, 1914, an interesting article by its president, 
Mr. T. J. Cunningham, on the early tavern and stage lines of 
the Chippewa country, which covers that field quite thoroughly. 

Menomonie, in Dunn County, was early the scene of lumbering 
activities. Its first place for the entertainment of sti angers was 
Knapp and Black's (later Knapp, Stout and Company) mill 



AdvertiseiXJtnt in Eau Claire Frte Press. Apr. 23, 1859. 

[ 163 1 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

boarding iiouse, opeued June 1, 1846, and long under the man- 
agement of Lorenzo Bullard and wife. In 1859 Levi Vance built 
the Vance House, and tlie following year the ^Menomonie House 
was erected by Nathan Eytcheson. He soon sold it to Knapp, 
Stout and Company, who enlarged it. It was first conducted 
by the builder, who was succeeded in turn by T. S. Heller, M. 
E. Jones and William McKahan. It is now a students' boarding 
house. 

In the early fifties xVmos Colbourn and, later, Landlord Ma- 
cauley kept taverns at Dunnville, and on April 21, 1858, Knapp, 
Stout and Company opened their new Tainter House at that 
place. At Waneka, in S. 7, T. 27, R. 11, Fowder's tavern which 
later passed to D. A. Slye Avas the principal stopping place on 
the stage road to Eau Claire. A few^ miles to the east stood D. 
B. Fuller's tavern. Near the mouth of Elk Creek Charles Hol- 
ies kept a stopping place, and at Fall City, in S. 30, T. 27, E. 11, 
Mr. Morton kept one as early as 1855. In July, 1866, Burbank 
and Company secured tlie stage contract between St. Paul and 
Eau Claire, which had previously been held by Woodbreck and 
Price of Black River Falls.-*^ In the same year the steamer 
"Pete Wilson" made daily trips from Reed's Landing to Dunn- 
ville, connecting there with stages to Menomonie. 

Pepin and Pierce Counties** 

Before the introduction of light draft steamboats on the afflu- 
ents of the upper Mississippi, North Pepin, being the nearest 
shipping point, was the gateway to the Red Cedar and Chippewa 
hinterland. During this brief period North Pepin was a busy 
place and its taverns flourished. In 1858 C. H. Granger con- 
ducted the Granger House, later known as the Chippewa, and 
B. T. Hastings, the Lake House. In tlie same year, G. B. Rick- 
ard. afterward of Stockholm, was landlord of the North Pepin 
House. Here also was tlie stage office of the North Pepin and 
Chippewa Falls Stage Company. The Fountain House at Stock- 
holm, on the riverside stage road to Hudson, was kept in 1858 



'■' Dunn County Ncirs. July 7, 186G. 

" The facts concerning the taverns of Pepin County have beea 
gleaned from the files of the Pepin Independent for 1858 and 1859. 

[164] 



The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 

by J. H. Alcott. In 1859 James H. (Jarlton was proprietor of the 
Garden City Honse, Frankfort, half way between Dunnville and 
Pepin. At Durand the popularity of Prindle's Little Inn con- 
tinued into railroad days. 

Preseott, Pierce County, was a bustling town in the late fifties,. 
with a number of taverns. In 1858 J. C. Hyatt kept the Hyatt 
House on the levee ; J. Bloom, the Preseott House on Orange 
street; and 0. P. Barnard, the American Hotel near the public 
square. The Lake House, near the ferry landing, was conducted 
by P, Bott in 1859. In the same year H. H. Byington ran the 
Greenwood House, River Falls, his rates being $1 per day, or 
$3.50 per w^eek.*^ 



St. Croix County 

Hudson, on the picturesque St. Croix, enjoyed one of its booms 
in the middle of the last century. James A. Andrews, retired, 
who came to Hudson in 1853, has furnished the following data 
about its hostelries of that period. Although taverns were not 
regarded as first class risks, especially after their patronage had 
declined, nevertheless it is remarkable that the early hotels of 
Hudson all met destruction by fire. 

The Hudson House was kept in 1853 by Curtis Bellows. On 
his death he was succeeded in 1855 by H. A. Bass. The hotel 
was burned in 1866. Curtis Simonds presided at the American 
House in 1853. After his death, in 1855, Jim Munson ran it- 
It was destroyed by fire before the Civil War. The Coit House, 
near the steamboat landing, was the stage house under Daniel 
Coit as well as during the management of his successor, Ralph 
Taylor, who changed the name to the Taylor House. It was 
burned in the fall of 1866. Charles H. Lewis, who conducted 
the Lewis House, was followed by E. B. Livingston in 1855. 
This hotel was biirned on July 4, 1858. The Revere House met 
the same fate ten years later. In 1854 Daniel Anderson, after- 
ward landlord of the City Hotel, kept a tavern to which he gave 
his own name. It was patronized by lawyers and other promi-- 
nent people. It fell a prey to fire on April 26, 1855. 



*■' Advertisement in Preseott Transcript. 1858-59. 

[165 1 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

The Hoyt House, built in 1856 by Capt. Miles H. Van Meter, 
was conducted by him until 1860. It was headquarters for the 
Lake St. Croix & Superior Kailroad promoters, and the for- 
mal beginning of grading was the occasion for a grand celebra- 
tion at the Hoyt House at which "joy and juice were uncon- 
fined". After Van Meter, Moses Noyes conducted the house until 
it was consumed by the great fire of May 19, 1866. John Mann, 
a successful grain dealer, built the City Hotel in 1856 and ran 
it for a few years. In 1859 John C. Henning was in charge, but 
its most noted landlord was Frank Catlin. He was jolly, full of 
stories, and well liked, but he would forsake desk and guests any 
time at the call of the elusive brook trout. After Catlin came 
Anderson, and then Boyden. The City Hotel also passed out of 
existence in the big fire of 1866. 

According to Attorney S. J. Bradford of Hudson, the firat 
tavern east of Hudson on the stage road to Menomonie, was 
Marsh Tucker's Inn, in the center of S. 18, T. 28, R. 17, W. It 
afterward became the Britton House, belonging to Charles Brit- 
ton. The next place was Baker's (Becker's) tavern, later known 
as Shaesby's (John), at the northeast corner of S. 24, T. 28, N., 
R. 24, W. Then came Hinman's tavern at Brookville, in 8. 24, 
T. 28, N., R. 16, W. Later changes are recorded by the editor 
of the Dunn County News, who in the spring of 1866 made the 
trip from Menomonie westward. The stage stoi)ped for supper 
and a change of horses at the Pioneer Hotel, Brookville, the pro- 
prietor of which was John Galhart. It arrived at William's Sta- 
tion about midnight, and from thence proceeded to Hudson.^*^ 



*• Dunn County Nvirs, June 2, 1866. 

The foregoins; survey of the tavr^rus and st;iG;e routr\s of Yv'isoonsin, 
"While not as comprehensive as might be desired, will nevertheless show 
the general distribution of the former and the piincipal courses of the 
latter. Although the author has been able to use but a fraction of the 
material gathered by him, and to repeat comparatively few of the bio- 
graphies and anecdotes of landlords in his possession, he yet hopes 
that his purpose in writing this paper will be realized, and that the 
tavern and its keeper will become recognized as potent factors in th« 
development of early Wisconsin. He is under obligations to hundreds 
of persons for information kindly given, and thanks them one and all; 
but he is especially grateful to the following men and women, not men- 
tioned heretofore, for material and assistance: The Old Settlers Club, 

[166] 



The Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin 

Milwaukee; F. S. Lyman, Kenosha; Mrs. H. B. Edwards, Eagle; Mias 
Ida Ela, Rochester; Mrs. Edward Jones, Fort Atkinson; M. P. Rind- 
laub, Platteville; E. Malone, Waterford; Aloys Grimm, Cassville; Nich- 
olas Becker, Saukville; Maj. Julius Schlaich, Plymouth; Judge EJmil 
Baensch, Manitowoc; W. A. Van Brunt, Horicon; W. W. Bartlett, Eau 
Claire; Dr. E. D. Pierce, Trempealeau; Charles R. Benton, La Crosse; 
H. W. Barney, Necedah; Fred Klaus Jr., Winneconne; Ernest Greverus 
and Horace Davis, Berlin; Hon. John Luchsinger, Monroe; and H. E. 
Knapp, Menomonie. 



[167 



